Unilabs and BGI Sign Innovative Collaboration Agreement

GENEVA and COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Unilabs, a leading medical diagnostic services company in Europe and BGI, one of the world's largest genomics research centres, have signed a collaboration agreement. This partnership will strengthen Unilabs' position as a leader in genetic testing, complementing the very broad range of genetics services offered throughout an integrated lab network. Unilabs is committed to bringing innovative tests and solutions to customers in Europe.

BGI, with European headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, has a lab facility with 10 high-throughput machines serving its European partners. The collaboration agreement with Unilabs will extend the reach of BGI genomics technology within Europe, giving customers access to more innovative panels and tests. Bringing two leaders in genetics together will extend and strengthen the genetic offering currently available, including the latest technologies in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatics.

Thanks to this innovative collaboration agreement, European clinicians will have access to more accurate diagnoses, and improved therapy selection in areas such as cancer treatment, cardiovascular treatment and pre-natal testing.

Dr. Cong Yu, COO of BGI Europe said, "We are very pleased to form collaboration with Unilabs. With our efforts, the collaboration will bring genomics technology into Europe and significantly improve healthcare of local people."

Fernando de Gorgolas, Unilabs General Manager International Business said, "This agreement is consistent with our strategy of becoming a leader in genetics. We are very proud of joining forces with BGI to bring innovative tests to our customers."

About BGI

BGI was founded in Beijing, China, in 1999 with the mission to become a premier scientific partner for the global research community. The goal of BGI is to make leading-edge genomic science highly accessible, which it achieves through its investment in infrastructure, leveraging the best available technology, economies of scale, and expert bioinformatics resources. BGI, and its affiliates, BGI Americas, headquartered in Cambridge, MA, and BGI Europe, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, have established partnerships and collaborations with leading academic and government research institutions as well as global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, supporting a variety of disease, agricultural, environmental, and related applications. For more information about BGI, please visit www.genomics.cn .