Press Releases
2024
February 26
Standard BioTools and Next Gen Diagnostics Announce Partnership to Provide Complete Automation of Low-Cost Pathogen Sequencing
Standard BioTools, Inc. and Next Gen Diagnostics announce the execution of a long-term agreement aimed at revolutionizing the automation of sample preparation for pathogen whole genome sequencing. Under the exclusive agreement, Standard BioTools™ will manufacture the NGD-100, a version of its microfluidics-based Biomark™ X9 System customized for NGD and optimized for automated pathogen WGS library preparation.
2023
October 9
Next Gen Diagnostics CEO Paul Rhodes Announces Plan to for NGD’s subsidiary, Next Gen Diagnostics, Israel, Ltd., to Open Lab at Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv
Next Gen Diagnostics announced that its Israeli subsidiary, Next Gen Diagnostics Israel, Ltd., will open a pathogen sequencing and bioinformatics laboratory in the Laboratory Wing of Sheba Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the Middle East, to provide all hospitals and researchers in Israel access to low cost bacterial whole genome sequencing (WGS) and pathogen bioinformatics, both to support the use of WGS to detect transmission of infection and for diagnostics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research.
November 2
Next Gen Diagnostics CEO Paul Rhodes Announces that Patricia Simner has Joined NGD’s Scientific Advisory Board
Next Gen Diagnostics announces that Dr. Patricia Simner, Director of Bacteriology at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, has joined its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Simner is author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications at the cutting edge of developing a genome-level understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mechanisms and treatment, and is a national leader in the application of whole genome sequencing (WGS) to infectious disease.
March 6
Next Gen Diagnostics CEO Paul Rhodes Announces Formation of UK Subsidiary, Next Gen Diagnostics UK, Ltd.
Next Gen Diagnostics announced today the formation of its UK subsidiary, Next Gen Diagnostics UK, Ltd. NGD is expanding an office and bioinformatics group based in Cambridge, on the West Campus of the University of Cambridge, where it has developed the field’s most automated integrated pathogen bioinformatics suite and machine learning system. The Cambridge group includes co-founder Professor Julian Parkhill, FRS, of the University of Cambridge along with a growing team of bioinformatics developers, data and ML experts.
February 8
NGD CEO Paul Rhodes Announces Publication in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology Validating Machine Learning-Based Resistance Prediction
Next Gen Diagnostics, which is bringing whole genome sequencing to clinical microbiology and Vanderbilt University Medical Center announce publication in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology of a study indicating that accuracy of a machine learning model of resistance to cefepime in E. coli is greater than that of the in vitro standard of care. These results, for a clinically significant drug-species combination, add to the evidence suggesting consideration of sequence, versus in vitro tests, as the basis for selection of infection therapy.
February 7
NGD CEO Paul Rhodes Announces Appointment of Brigitte Frankel to its Advisory Board
Next Gen Diagnostics announced today that Brigitte Frankel, former head of the medical technology practice at Spencer Stewart, has joined its Advisory Board. During her distinguished career in executive search Ms. Frankel, who now leads executive consultancy Leopold-Frankel Associates, focused on C-level and Board placements for some of the Country’s foremost public life science enterprises, including Illumina, Quest and others. Her previous experience includes ten years selling capital equipment in the life science and diagnostics space for Agilent.
January 9
Next Gen Diagnostics CEO Paul A. Rhodes Announces Formation of Subsidiary NGD Israel, Ltd.
Next Gen Diagnostics announced today the formation of its subsidiary NGD Israel, Ltd., to offer low-cost pathogen sequencing, transmission detection, and sequence-based infectious disease diagnostics to Israel. NGD’s pathogen sequencing lab will be centrally located to facilitate providing rapid pathogen sequencing service to customers across Israel. NGD will offer a complete turn-key service including extraction, library preparation, sequencing, and fully validated bioinformatic analysis, at unprecedentedly low cost.
2022
September 22
Next Gen Diagnostics Announces Vanderbilt Professor and Leader in Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing Dr. Romney Humphries Has Joined Next Gen Diagnostics Scientific Advisory Board
Next Gen Diagnostics (NGD) is pleased to announce Vanderbilt Professor Dr. Romney M. Humphries has joined its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Humphries’ work correlating the genomic basis of resistance to in vitro susceptibility results along with her deep experience in regulatory clearance requirements will provide invaluable insight as NGD systematically brings whole genome sequence (WGS)-based diagnostics to patient care under the FDA regulatory framework.
September 19
Next Gen Diagnostics announces Cleveland Clinic Microbiology Laboratory Medical Director Dr. Daniel Rhoads has joined its Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Rhoads, a thought leader in clinical microbiology diagnostics practice, is in charge of Cleveland Clinic’s bacteriology operations. “I am pleased to join NGD’s Scientific Advisory Board to help advise them in the clinical validation and practical implementation of pathogen sequencing for use in patient care,” said Dr. Rhoads.
2020
March 3
Fluidigm and Next Gen Diagnostics Enter into Agreement to Improve the Efficiency of Pathogen Sample Preparation for Microbial Whole Genome Sequencing
Fluidigm Corporation (Nasdaq:FLDM), an industry leader in microfluidics technology, and Next Gen Diagnostics (NGD), a Wellcome Sanger Institute-based leader in the automation of pathogen bioinformatics, today announce an exclusive agreement that enables NGD to utilize the Fluidigm® Juno™ system for pathogen whole genome sequencing (WGS) sample preparation. Under the terms of the agreement, Fluidigm will receive milestone payments starting in 2020 and additional revenue over five years.
2019
March 26
Next Gen Diagnostics Announces that MIT Associate Professor and Broad Institute Core Faculty member Paul Blainey has Joined its Scientific Advisory Board
Next Gen Diagnostics (NGD) is pleased to announce that Broad Institute core faculty member and MIT Biological Engineering Associate Professor Dr. Paul Blainey has joined its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Blainey, a world expert in microfluidic technology and its application to genomics, will advise NGD across several areas of company technology including the automation of next gen sequencing sample preparation methods.
2018
July 11
Next Gen Diagnostics Announces that Dr. Tony Cox, Director of Advanced Sequencing Pipeline Research at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Has Joined its Scientific Advisory Board
Next Gen Diagnostics is pleased to announce that Dr. Tony Cox, Head of DNA Pipelines Development at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, has joined its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Cox is Group Leader of both DNA Pipeline Informatics as well as DNA Pipelines Research and Development, and as such has very broad experience, at industrial scale, with the very highest quality and highest volume sample preparation, sequencing, bioinformatics pipeline in the world.
January 10
Next Gen Diagnostics Selected to Partner with a UK Consortium To Conduct The First Trial Of Prospective Sequencing-Enabled Transmission Detection, At Addenbrooke’s Hospital, In Cambridge, UK.
Next Gen Diagnostics (NGD) will partner with a Consortium funded by the Wellcome Trust and the United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Care under a 4.4M£ Health Innovation Challenge Fund (HICF) grant, to do the first deployment of prospective sequencing of all MRSA samples as a means to detect transmission of infection and thereby prevent outbreaks. Led by Professor Sharon Peacock of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Julian Parkhill of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the project will be done with Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, UK, in close partnership with the leadership of Addenbrooke’s microbiology laboratory and infection control teams.
2017
November 1
Next Gen Diagnostics Announces that Professor Sharon Peacock, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Has Joined its Scientific Advisory Board
Next Gen Diagnostics is pleased to announce that Professor Sharon Peacock, one of the world’s foremost experts on the application of pathogen whole genome sequencing to the detection of transmission, has joined its Scientific Advisory Board as Chief Advisor, Clinical Application Development. Dr. Peacock holds a senior faculty position at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Disease, along with honorary positions at the University of Cambridge and the Sanger Institute.
August 19
Next Gen Diagnostics Announces that Professor Julian Parkhill, Pathogen Genomics Group Leader at the Sanger Institute, Has Joined its Scientific Advisory Board
Next Gen Diagnostics is pleased to announce that Professor Julian Parkhill, one of the world’s foremost experts on pathogen whole genome sequencing and its application, has joined its Scientific Advisory Board as Chief Advisor, Bioinformatics Pipeline Development. Dr. Parkhill, a Fellow of the Royal Society with over 500 peer-reviewed publications and recipient of numerous honors, is a widely recognized expert in pathogen sequencing, having been on the Sanger Institute team that sequenced Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in 1997, one of the first bacterial whole genome sequences ever produced.
June 30
Next Gen Diagnostics Announces the Opening of its Office at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus Outside of Cambridge, UK
Next Gen Diagnostics announces the opening of its office at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, outside of Cambridge in Hinxton, UK. The Campus, which houses the renowned Sanger Institute, includes 2,500 genomic and bioinformatics scientists and support staff, and is one of the world’s leading centers for genomics, and has produced approximately 30% of all the pathogen sequences uploaded to GenBank to date. Next Gen’s office is in the BioData Innovation Centre, the first building on Campus to house companies. As such, Next Gen benefits from ready proximity to a world leading community of pathogen genomics researchers.