Sequenom announces Certified Service Provider program for technical certification

Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM), a life sciences company providing innovative diagnostic testing and genetic analysis solutions, today announced a Certified Service Provider (CSP) program for the technical certification of selected laboratories offering research services using the Sequenom research-use-only MassARRAY^® System. Certifications cover the major research applications of the MassARRAY System, including iPLEX^® genotyping, OncoCarta™ somatic mutation profiling, ADME PGx, and EpiTyper^® DNA methylation analysis.

"The use of the MassARRAY System in clinical and translational research continues to grow," said Michael Monko, Sequenom's Senior Vice President for Genetic Analysis. "Clinical and translational researchers require the greatest level of confidence in their data, and this program provides assurance in the quality of the work generated by our network of highly experienced certified providers."

The certifications have been awarded to the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre in Montreal, Canada, Knight Diagnostic Laboratories at Oregon Health & Science University, and GeneWorks in Adelaide, Australia. Additional institutions have included The Clinical Genomics Centre in Toronto, Canada, Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden, NewGene in Newcastle, UK, DNA LandMarks (a plant and animal genomics company and subsidiary of BASF) based in Quebec, Canada, as well as several providers based in Asia.

"We are delighted to partner with Sequenom, and this certification confirms the high-quality standards we have implemented at the Innovation Centre over the years for our sequencing and genotyping services. We are especially proud of this CSP certification because we participated in the creation of the program and its implementation," said Daniel Tessier, Vice President, Technology Centres at Genome Quebec.

Sequenom's MassARRAY System is utilized by biomedical researchers worldwide to measure genetic variations that occur normally or in association with diseases including cancer. The MALDI-TOF based mass spectrometry technology enables scientists to utilize highly specific and sensitive pre-designed or custom-made research use assay panels for several key types of genomic markers, including single nucleotide polymorphisms, somatic mutations, copy number variations, gene expression, and DNA methylation.