Pacific Biosciences Receives Grant From NIH

Pacific Biosciences has received grants totaling more than $1.9m from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 Research and Research Infrastructure Grand Opportunities grants program.

Reportedly, the grants received by Pacific Biosciences through the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the NIH include $1,190,022 divided over two years to support the development of a direct DNA methylation detection method.

DNA methylation is a chemical modification to DNA that causes changes in gene expression and regulation. DNA methylation and associated epigenetic factors are increasingly being recognised for their importance in the biology of development and disease processes such as cancer.

According to the NHGRI, the new awards will stimulate research in studies ranging from those aimed at understanding the function of the human genome to those intended to lead to improvements in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human illness.

The company has also received an additional $714,406 in funding toward its existing NIH grant to support the continued development of its single molecule real time (SMRT) DNA sequencing technology. The funds will be used to support further performance enhancements and additional scientific publications describing the SMRT technology.

Steve Turner, chief technology officer for Pacific Biosciences, said: “Our SMRT sequencing approach will unify the formerly separate applications of DNA sequencing and methylation sequencing. The potential to visualise methylation status and other epigenomic markers as a by-product of ordinary DNA sequencing, with no change in sample preparation or run conditions, will save researchers time and cost while also providing added depth to the information they can obtain from sequencing projects.”