Source BioScience opens genomics and precision medicine centre in Cambridge

Source BioScience has officially opened a new Genomics and Precision Medicine Centre in Cambridge – at Endeavour House.

The company welcomed attendees from local and industry media, life science networks, a large number of biotech and pharmaceutical scientists as well as researchers from prominent academic bodies.

Source launched its genomics arm in the early 2000s, initially offering its market-leading Sanger Sequencing service with overnight results.

The popularity of the offering led to the introduction of NGS services, followed in recent years by the introduction of third generation sequencing (e.g. nanopore sequencing) and other ‘omic technologies such as spatial transcriptomics from 10x Genomics and more recently proteomic services via the Olink platform.

As a key laboratory provider, Source BioScience has experienced rapid growth in its key business units. The Healthcare arm, largely focusing on cellular pathology, digital pathology and AI services, is focused on working closely with the NHS and private healthcare providers to provide diagnostic and reporting services, within which capacity was greatly accelerated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source acted as a key COVID-19 laboratory testing service provider, liaising directly with the DHSC as well as private laboratories and testing over 25000 samples per day at the peak of the pandemic.

The Genomics arm, based at the new Cambridge facility, has broadened its service portfolio with the aim of providing cutting-edge technologies to its life science, academic and pharmaceutical partners. The expanded laboratory footprint, in addition to expertly trained scientists and working to the highest quality standards means Source is well positioned to support the Cambridge Phenomenon and all the local area as well as the rest of the UK to cement its status as a global healthcare and life science leader.

Sanger Sequencing was first developed by Frederick Sanger and colleagues in 1977 and is the most widely used DNA sequencing method worldwide.

Despite being critical for research, it is a somewhat time-consuming and labour-intensive technique. For this reason, huge numbers of researchers choose to outsource.

Source has perfected its service over the years to a point where for the majority of its customers, it offers its Overnight Service™ with results available by 9am the next day – just in time for another day in the lab.

Source is one of Europe’s leading providers of commercial sequencing, offering NGS services from ISO accredited laboratories.

NGS services are offered on the most prominent platforms including Illumina’s NovaSeq, NextSeq and MiSeq. Some of the more popular services requested also include RNA-seq, Whole Genome and Whole Exome Sequencing. These are increasingly in demand as ‘omics approaches become critical research and even diagnostic components.

Source BioSCience says it has built its reputation on excellent customer service, communication and high quality of services provided, combined with rapid turnaround times.

Its customer base of Blue Chip Pharma, NHS & Private Healthcare Providers makes it well-networked in the life science and healthcare space.

As the Cambridge BioMedical Cluster expands further, in tune with the Government’s recent commitment to help raise the profile of the UK as a life science super power and “innovation nation”, Source intends to ensure top quality laboratory services are available to its partners.