Welcome to
BGI Australia

It is BGI's 20th Anniversay and BGI Australia's 3rd Anniversary this month! We extend our deepest appreciation to all the staff who deserve a big round of applause for all their hard work and unconditional dedications, and our supportive partners and collaborators. Congratulations to you all for being an integral part of this extraordinary journey. Happy anniversaries!

During the past two months, we have received as many as 71 competitive applications. We sincerely appreciate your interest and effort in the submitting your applications. Through a meticulous assessment process, we are very pleased to announce the final three equal winners and their names are listed in alphabetic order only. The Award goes to:

• Dr Ruby Lin from Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Curing Antibiotic Resistance with Phage Therapy (PCR Free WGS)
• Dr Subir Sarker from La Trobe University, Genome Sequencing of Australia's Most Critically Endangered Parrot (stLFR WGS) 
• Dr YI ZHOU from the University of Adelaide, Genome Sequencing and Analysis of the Turfgrass Species (stLFR WGS)

Congratulations to all the successful recipients!

If you are interested in knowing more about the winners' projects please get in touch with us at bgi-australia@genomics.cn.

MGI, a division of BGI Group, announced that Micromon Genomics is the first Australian commercial user of its high-throughput genetic sequencer MGISEQ-2000. Monash University’s Micromon Genomics, a next-generation sequencing facility located in the university’s Biomedical precinct at the Clayton campus in Melbourne, provides sequencing services to Australian researchers, including DNA, RNA, single cell and customised applications. “This instrument precisely fits our yield requirements, giving us the flexibility and scope to complete both small and large projects, without the necessity to queue large numbers of samples before commencing sequencing runs,” Micromon Genomics’ NGS Manager Mr. Scott Coutts said. “Data quality is equal to or better than the data we currently generate on alternative platforms, as well as bringing about substantial service price reductions.”  MGI has a strong local support team based in Brisbane providing commercial support, technical training and after-sale services to Australia and New Zealand. To provide better product and service for users in  the region, MGI authorised Decode Science as the distributor for next generation sequencers and related products. MGI and DS jointly provide after sales applications and service support to new and existing units in the region, utilising MGI's dedicated local support team. MGI instruments are gaining more recognition from local scientists and researchers.  MGI has delivered over 1,000 sequencers to more than 300 users in 16 countries worldwide. 

Micromon is a not-for-profit facility located in the Biomedical precinct at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. As a specialist facility, Micromon offers expertise in DNA and RNA technologies where Sanger long-read sequencing and Next-Generation short-read sequencing form the key services, along with allied technologies. With more than 35 years of experience, Micromon has a long history of excellent project design and management, and a strong focus on personalised customer service and support.

BGI Genomics and a digital health start-up, Pryzm Health (Pryzm), signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 14 May 2019 for collaboration to advance precision public health in Australia. With their complementary expertise and technology, BGI Genomics and Pryzm will develop foundational capabilities to drive equitable access to precision medicine approaches across the health system. This movement, termed precision public health, will enable more rapid diagnoses, improved efficiency, better patient outcomes and more economically-sustainable health practices. Pryzm is an innovative digital health start-up focused on guiding personal and clinical health decisions by accelerating diagnosis of rare and inherited diseases. The collaboration aims to improve the utility of cost-effective genomic testing for the clinic and lower the barriers for access to precision healthcare in Australia by harnessing the synergy between the complementary technologies of BGI Genomcs in genomics and Pryzm in the integration and analytics of genomic information and electronic health data. BGI Genomics, a subsidiary of BGI, provides a wide range of next generation sequencing services and a broad portfolio of genetic tests for medical institutions, research institutions and other public and private partners. 

Pryzm is a digital health company focused on identifying and accelerating patient diagnosis, particularly of rare and inherited diseases. Pryzm fulfils its mission by developing secure and clinically-compliant software to support phenotyping and phenotype analysis to serve patients and the healthcare industry. 

GenomiQa and BGI Genomics formed an agreement, on 25 March, on clinical whole genome cancer sequencing utilising BGI’s ISO15189 accredited laboratory sequencing facilities. Dr Bicheng Yang, Director of BGI Australia said, “We are really pleased with the growth of our sequencing services on DNBseqTM technology platform and the opportunity to support innovative companies like genomiQa. By working together with genomiQa, researchers and physicians can use whole genome analysis to unlock potential new treatments and support the best patient outcomes similar to the 'Immunotherapy Outcomes Predication' project we are working together on." genomiQa's CEO Colin Albert said, “We have been working with BGI on a number of research projects and validation studies to reach this exciting milestone. More importantly we will start to help patients who have only had access to comprehensive panels, where up to 38% of breast cancer patients may not have received the best treatment options, as actionable information was not available." genomiQa also intends to use BGI’s facility in Australia once it has completed the ISO 15189 accreditation process in the next 12 months. Keep reading

genomiQa is a start-up company out of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, which provides computational pipeline services to analyse whole genome data, DNA/RNA. The high-quality genomic pipeline was developed by founders Dr Nic Waddell and John Pearson and offered clinicians and companies high-quality analysis of genomic data to inform health care decisions.

BGI-Research and the Macquarie University of Australia formally signed a cooperation agreement during the 7th International Yeast 2.0 and Synthetic Genomes Conference 2018 in Sydney, on 26th November. The two sides will jointly promote scientific research and education in synthetic biology, and focus on engineering bacteria transformation of natural products in synthetic biology. In the next five years, BGI Research and Macquarie University will fully leverage their resources to focus on bilateral cooperation in the fields of synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and natural product synthesis. The two parties will work together with the goal to jointly opening new channels for talent training, to explore opportunities for industrialization of scientific research projects and drive related areas development in China and Australia. Keep reading

Founded in 1964, Macquarie University is a public research university located in Sydney. It has been given five stars by the international QS stars rating system in teaching, research, facilities, innovation and specialist subjects. Macquarie University is ranked among the top 1% of universities in the world.