The power of next generation sequencing lies in its ability to serve as a readout for a wide range of biological applications. Many of these applications such as whole genome sequencing, RNA-seq and ChIP-seq are well supported. On the front end there are numerous kits for library preparation while on the back end, there are a wide variety of computational approaches available to make sense of the data. From their inception in the early days of high-throughput sequencing these approaches have been significantly revised and are continually being refined by the research community. However, more often than not, researchers find that their projects don’t fit into the standard mold and require the boundaries of existing NGS technology to be pushed. In some cases, what starts out as a unique requirement will often develop wider adoption by the research community once the initial legwork has been done.
Embarking on such projects can be daunting. It requires expertise in experimental design, molecular biology and unique methods of analyzing the sequencing data custom developed for the specific application. Cofactor’s position as a CRO means our strength lies in partnering with the researcher in answering biological questions, rather than just providing sequencing data. Many of our R&D efforts are driven by the needs of our customers and the research community as a whole. Diving headfirst into the development of breakthrough technology is part of the culture of Cofactor, stemming from our team’s background in the Technology Development Group at the Genome Institute at Washington University. Over the years, we have partnered with academic and industry researchers to design and implement unique solutions for a variety of biological problems. Some examples are the detection of viral integration sites in the genome, custom capture based transcript assembly and product testing and the evaluation for sequencing based kits/reagents.
If your research doesn’t quite fit in to one of the standard approaches, know that Cofactor can help you tackle the toughest of problems. Either through our existing products or as a partner through our MAP program, to develop a unique solution that pushes your breakthrough research forward. That’s our strength as a full-service CRO. We handle the hard work and allow you to get on with discovery.
