09 January 2019, San Jose, USA – MGI announced pricing and its first early access customer for the DNBSEQ-T7 ultra-high-throughput sequencer at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.
The company revealed sequencing costs as low as $5 per gigabyte, alongside high accuracy performance, marking a significant step towards making whole genome sequencing more accessible at scale.
“Every individual deserves a sequenced genome that is affordable and accurate,” said Duncan Yu, President of MGI. “Our technical breakthroughs are making this a reality and bringing greater choice to the market.”
MGI also announced WeGene as the first early access user of the DNBSEQ-T7. The company plans to sequence more than 40,000 whole genomes in 2019, scaling to over 120,000 in 2020 using the platform.
Launched in October 2018, the DNBSEQ-T7 is a production-scale sequencing system capable of generating up to 6 Tb of data per day, equivalent to approximately 60 whole human genomes. Its design allows up to four flow cells to run simultaneously and independently, supporting multiple applications within a single run.
The platform is powered by MGI’s DNBSEQ technology, which combines rolling circle replication and patterned array design with PCR-free sample preparation to deliver high accuracy and stable performance. Reported accuracy rates reach 99.9% for SNP detection and 99% for indels, with low duplication and minimal index misassignment.
MGI also highlighted its single-tube long fragment read (stLFR) technology, which enables long-range genomic information from short-read sequencing. This approach improves structural variation detection, genome phasing and overall data quality while reducing cost and simplifying workflows.
By the end of 2018, MGI had installed over 1,000 sequencers across 16 countries, supporting a growing global user base and expanding access to high-throughput genomic technologies.
