Roche has expanded its diagnostic capabilities with the acquisition of Seattle, US-based Stratos Genomics Inc, an early-stage sequencing technology company. The deal was announced on 22 May but financial details were not disclosed.
Stratos has patented technology for converting DNA into polymers that are reportedly easy to read. In principle this makes it possible to sequence DNA at a higher speed and lower cost than existing methods. The technology is called sequencing by expansion (SBX) and will be used in a nanopore sequencer that is being developed by Roche.