RainDance MethylSeq™ Solution Powers Two New Epigenetic Studies Focused on Cell Differentiation and Cancer Progression

RainDance Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of microdroplet-based solutions for single molecule and single cell analysis, have announced the publication of two significant studies that further validate the use of the company’s MethylSeq™ Solution to power large-scale epigenetic research projects.

Published separately in Genome Research and PLoS ONE, these two studies from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and Christian-Albrechts University detail how the company’s MethylSeq Solution allows researchers to more accurately target genomic regions of methylation and overcome the many hurdles and costs associated with traditional techniques, such as ChIP-seq and whole-genome bisulfite sequencing.

Used in conjunction with next-generation DNA sequencing, the RainDance MethylSeq Solution provides a complete picture of methylation status of specific regions across the genome with the same complete sequence coverage, specificity, and uniformity as the company's current Targeted Sequencing solution. The Solution features a sophisticated primer design pipeline capable of interrogating all regions of the methylome and measuring multiple individual cytosine residues in multiple CpG islands.

Led by Professor Daniel R. Salomon, The Scripps Research team is focused on the functional genomics of human kidney, liver and islet cell transplantation. The primary objectives of this work are to use the latest genomic technologies to better understand the immune mechanisms that cause acute and chronic rejection and for the discovery of biomarkers aimed at improving transplant outcomes and allowing the personalised management of immunosuppression.

In their Genome Research publication, the team used the RainDance MethylSeq Solution to demonstrate a strong correlation between a gene’s transcription activity and the methylation status of CpG islands. The team achieved 97 percent coverage of all targeted CpGs and 99 percent of target amplicons in both small and large-scale studies.

In the PLoS ONE paper, a team from the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany demonstrates how the integration of SNP data and phased DNA-methylation or hepitype information can be used to better understand the somatic evolution in lymphoma and colorectal cancer samples. The team used the RainDance MethylSeq Solution to measure DNA strand-specific methylation status in a wide range of target sequences (total 34 kb) with a minimum coverage of 20x for 95 percent of the bases. By tracking a sample’s hepitype, researchers can identify subtle epigenetic contributions to a given phenotype.

“These two studies successfully demonstrate the power and potential of RainDance’s full portfolio of Cancer Research Solutions and help validate our MethylSeq Solution as the new de facto gold standard for large-scale targeted methylation analysis,” added Darren R. Link, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Vice President of Research and Development at RainDance Technologies and author on both publications. “We congratulate each team on the publication of their work and look forward to continuing our collaborations focused on advancing the field of epigenomics.”

For more information about the RainDance MethylSeq™ Solution, please follow the link on the 'company article page.'