Chongqing - Jinfeng Laboratory in Western (Chongqing) Science City recently held its 2024 Annual Science Achievement Conference, presenting six key technological breakthroughs that underscore the region's leadership in scientific innovation.

Among the breakthroughs was a second-generation sequencing device, the world’s first based on high-throughput chip integration, developed by Wang Zheng, Executive Director of Jinfeng Laboratory's Bioinformatics Center, and his team in partnership with GeneSense.

Jinfeng Laboratory. [Photo/Western (Chongqing) Science City]

The device is designed for early detection in critical areas such as oncology, prenatal screening, pathogen detection, and genetic disease testing, promising faster report generation along with enhanced accuracy and stability in analytical results.

Project lead Luo Shaobo explained that traditional sequencers in the industry are typically developed for specific throughput levels and require different devices to meet varying throughput demands. 

However, this new sequencing device can be customized according to throughput needs, effectively covering the ranges of different throughput models in mainstream sequencing applications with just one machine. This flexibility allows sequencing technology to serve various applications better. The relevant technology has been patented in China and internationally.

“We’ve partnered with Hong Kong University’s Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the Hong Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, the Genome Institute of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology, and Research, and five other global medical and research institutions to begin clinical applications,” Luo shared.

Researchers are conducting experiments at Jinfeng Laboratory. (Photo/Long Fan)

Wang’s team also built an advanced single-cell multi-omics intelligence platform, a sophisticated tool for disease pathology analysis and biomarker identification that meets international standards. The platform’s precision allows diagnostics to move from tissue-based pathology to the cellular level, unlocking insights into disease mechanisms and facilitating targeted drug therapies.

"In the past, pathology diagnoses were based on tissue samples. Now, this platform allows us to pinpoint the affected cells and analyze the causes of the lesions, enabling precise targeted drug therapies," explained Wang. "Additionally, we can use this platform to explore which genes regulate the formation of features like the nose and what genes control facial characteristics." 

The platform has been deployed in over 5,000 projects, covering research on conditions like cancer, obesity, and major infectious diseases, as well as studies on individual and organ developmental traits and cellular trajectory analysis. It is worth mentioning that the platform is fully compatible with domestic Huawei GPU and CPU chips and the hyper-converged framework, achieving complete domestic self-sufficiency and control over both software and hardware.