Ebersberg, Germany – Eurofins Genomics Europe, a leader in genomic products and services, announces the launch of its “SARS-CoV-2 Full-length Genome Sequencing” service, a new next generation sequencing (NGS) service enabling end-to-end surveillance of the coronavirus genome sequence and mutational drift. The new service is Eurofins Genomics’ latest addition to a whole product portfolio aimed at supporting researchers globally in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

By sequencing the complete viral ssRNA genome, the new “SARS-CoV-2 Full-length Genome Sequencing” service provides Eurofins Genomics customers with fully assembled SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences. It enables accurate identification, strain typing, surveillance of mutational drift and phylogenetic distances between locally and regionally different viral isolate genome sequences. A sophisticated BioIT pipeline for full viral genome assembly as well as a set of additional bioinformatics analyses compare the isolate sequences with SARS-CoV-2 genome references and deliver a report facilitating conclusive interpretation of the data. The new service allows researchers to analyse their samples via Eurofins Genomics standardised, automated and laboratory information management system (LIMS) controlled high throughput next generation sequencing pipelines. The data output is guaranteed and very flexible as multiples of five million read pairs can optionally be added. Researchers and epidemiologists can then easily upload and compare data obtained on their samples with sequences of the virus available in global databases like https://nextstrain.org/ncov/global. This facilitates understanding of the mutations and history of a given strain of the virus and in some cases can help in outbreak source tracing.

Eurofins Genomics’ new “SARS-CoV-2 Full-length Genome Sequencing” service launch further demonstrates Eurofins Group’s commitment to contribute to the global response to the SARS-CoV-2 crisis. Eurofins Genomics supports scientists from all areas in their vital work by providing them with the right tools to facilitate genomic research on SARS-CoV-2 where detailed knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 and its characteristics is instrumental in order to identify fast and viable solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new service also ensures that Eurofins Genomics customers’ designs of primers and probes consistently match the current and local face of the virus. This knowledge may also prove valuable for the potential requirement to specifically tailor locally, regionally and/or seasonally adjusted future vaccines.

More information on this new “SARS-CoV-2 Full-length Genome Sequencing” service can be found on https://www.eurofinsgenomics.eu/en/next-generation-sequencing/applications/sars-cov-2-genome-sequencing/

The full coronavirus product range offered by Eurofins Genomics Europe, including SARS-CoV-2 qPCR assays or SARS-CoV-2 plasmid controls, can be found on https://www.eurofinsgenomics.eu/en/covid-19/

For more information, please visit www.eurofinsgenomics.com or contact:

Julian Schlossmacher Head of Marketing and Communications Europe Eurofins Genomics Phone: +49 8092 8289 925 E-mail: julianschlossmacher@eurofins.com

Notes for the editor:

About Eurofins Genomics – a global leader in genomic products and services

Eurofins Genomics, a member of the Eurofins Group with facilities in Europe, the United States and Asia, is an internationally leading provider of DNA sequencing services, next generation sequencing services, genotyping services, DNA synthesis products and bioinformatics services for pharma, diagnostics, food, agriculture, biotechnological and research markets. The company’s strength is its extensive customer base and high quality services in industrial scale for the life science industries and academic research institutions around the world. For further information, please visit the Eurofins Genomics website.

About Eurofins – a global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins Scientific, through its subsidiaries (hereinafter “Eurofins” or “the Group”), believes it is a global leader in food, environmental, pharmaceutical and cosmetics products testing and in agroscience CRO services. It is also one of the global independent market leaders in certain testing and laboratory services for genomics, discovery pharmacology, forensics, CDMO, advanced material sciences and in the support of clinical studies. In addition, Eurofins is one of the leading global emerging players in esoteric clinical diagnostic testing. With over 47,000 staff across a network of more than 900 independent companies in over 50 countries generally specialised by end client markets and operating more than 800 laboratories, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods to evaluate the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin, traceability and purity of biological substances and products, as well as providing innovative clinical diagnostic testing services. The Group’s objective is to provide customers with high-quality and innovative services, accurate results on time and, when requested, expert advice by its highly-qualified staff.

Eurofins is committed to pursuing its dynamic growth strategy by expanding both its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions and a very large range of testing methods.

As one of the most innovative and quality-oriented international companies in its industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients’ increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the increasing demands of regulatory authorities and healthcare practitioners around the world.

Shares in Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0000038259, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).