Roche Comes Out With Novel ‘Sequencing-By-Expansion’ Approach

Roche has proposed a fresh kind of genetic analysis. This process, which the company refers to as sequencing-by-expansion, is a patented technique that involves disassembling the DNA molecule and amplifying the signal of every single base independently.

According to the company, its procedure, which incorporates elements of DNA synthesis and nanopore-based molecular reading, has the potential to circumvent the time constraints of cycle-based sequencing as well as the similar challenges of discriminating actual signals from noise.

SBX, the innovative sequencing technology, represents the culmination of Roche’s strategic acquisitions. By acquiring Stratos Genomics in 2020, Roche gained access to the groundbreaking sequencing-by-expansion technology. This acquisition was complemented by the purchase of Genia Technologies in 2014, which brought with it an enormouslyl, single-molecule nanopore platform.

The integration of these two technologies has resulted in the development of SBX, a powerful tool that is poised to revolutionize the field of DNA sequencing.

At the beginning of the process, one individual strand of DNA is copied over into its counterpart, which is composed of As, Gs, Cs, and Ts, but these are the ones that are joined to a much bigger loop-shaped molecule that is programmed to correspond to its base.

As soon as the new molecule is finished being constructed, the DNA’s inner backbone is severed. In the process of the helix unwinding to a length up to fifty times greater than it was before, the loops eventually reach their full length. Because base pairs had previously been separated by a span of just a few atoms, this makes it possible to read each gene with a better degree of clarity.

The unfolded and amplified strand of DNA code, which is referred to as an Xpandomer, is then sent through the nanopores, where variations in electrical voltage correlate with every letter of the sequence of genes.

Roche Diagnostics CEO Matt Sause stated that the scientific foundation of SBX technology marks a major advancement, overcoming the constraints of current sequencing methods. His remarks were made in anticipation of the annual Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conference in Florida.

“By integrating and enhancing the two technologies, Roche’s SBX has created a differentiated approach, offering unparalleled speed, efficiency and flexibility,” he added. “The speed and accuracy of SBX has the potential to revolutionize the use of sequencing in research and healthcare.”

Despite the fact that the technology is still in the process of being developed and is not yet accessible for commercial use, Roche has said that the technique may one day be appropriate for sequencing the full genome and the exome, as well as parsing RNA. This would have uses in research laboratories and maybe even in clinical testing.

Additionally, the company said that it was scalable and capable of handling both big and small tasks, and announced its plan to get it off the ground next year.