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From MGINov 11 2025
Cape Town, South Africa, 11 November 2025 – MGI Tech Co., Ltd., a institution dedicated to processing halfway devices and technologies that thrust invention successful life sciences, coming announced 2 historical milestones successful African genomics: nan charismatic unveiling of nan continent’s first DNBSEQ-T7 sequencing level astatine nan South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), and nan signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) betwixt MGI, nan Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), and nan SAMRC to motorboat nan 110K Human Genome Program successful South Africa.
Image Credit: MGI
These milestones correspond a transformative leap toward building sustainable genomic investigation capacity successful South Africa. They are group to beforehand precision medicine while ensuring that Africa’s publication to world genomic subject encompasses not only its information but besides its ideas, models, and innovations.
Commenting connected this monumental partnership, Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, CEO and President of nan SAMRC, said:
“Our collaboration represents a strategical finance and valuable narration successful processing section capacity and cost-efficient genomic sequencing infrastructure. Partnering pinch MGI uniquely enhances nationalist affordability, scalability, and semipermanent sustainability, ensuring South Africa tin present population-scale genomics astatine locally viable costs.”
Africa’s First DNBSEQ-T7: Powering Independence and Innovation
The DNBSEQ-T7, now operational astatine nan SAMRC Genomics Centre successful Cape Town, ranks among Africa’s astir precocious ultra-high-throughput sequencing platforms by delivering ultra-high-throughput information pinch unmatched speed, scale, and accuracy. The strategy enables large-cohort and multi-omics studies, importantly reducing sequencing costs and expanding accessibility crossed nan continent.
Born from nan SAMRC’s longstanding attraction connected precision medicine, nan SAMRC Genomics Platform has been instrumental successful advancing genomics and precision medicine crossed South Africa and nan wider continent. Beyond sequencing, it is simply a hub for innovation, capacity building, and translational research, empowering African scientists to lead and beforehand successful fields ranging from objective genetics and organization genomics to biodiversity and infectious illness research.
In addition, nan installation plays a captious domiciled successful training and mentoring section researchers, processing and validating bioinformatics pipelines optimized for African genomic diversity, and designing end-to-end workflows for locally applicable applications. It continues to thrust efforts to little nan costs of sequencing, amended information quality, and cultivate sustainable section expertise that supports Africa’s technological independence.
With nan installation of nan DNBSEQ-T7, nan SAMRC’s capabilities are further enhanced, enabling high-throughput, high-impact genomic projects astatine a standard antecedently unattainable successful Africa. To date, nan T7 level has sequenced 96 lion genomes, 168 low-coverage quality genomes, and 9 high-coverage quality genomes from patients pinch undiagnosed uncommon diseases.
Image Credit: MGI
110K Human Genome Program: A South African National Initiative
A associated effort betwixt SAMRC, DSTI, and MGI, nan 110K Human Genome Program intends to span nan world spread successful genomic information practice from African populations. This landmark committedness will series 110,000 South African genomes, yet establishing nan country’s first broad nationalist genomic reference database.
Glaudina Loots, Director for Health Innovation astatine nan DSTI, said:
“The business marks a applicable measurement guardant successful realizing South Africa’s Precision Medicine and Health Innovation agenda. By integrating infrastructure improvement pinch standardized pricing and capacity building, we are fostering a sustainable and inclusive genomics ecosystem. Importantly, this business opens avenues for associated backing done BRICS and China–Africa subject collaboration platforms, reinforcing our committedness to South–South cooperation.”
In nan aviator phase, nan programme will series up to 10,000 quality genomes, laying nan groundwork for an African Genome Reference - a first-of-its-kind assets that will alteration researchers and clinicians to amended understand population-specific familial diversity. This will besides heighten nan diagnosis, prevention, and curen of diseases prevalent crossed nan continent. In nan agelong term, nan inaugural will beryllium broadened to incorporated cutting-edge technologies - including spatial transcriptomics, single-cell sequencing, proteomics, and long-read sequencing - reinforcing South Africa’s domiciled arsenic a world leader successful genomic innovation.
Image Credit: MGI
Duncan Yu, President of MGI Tech, said:
“Genomic advancement is not driven by exertion alone; it is powered by partnerships. We are proud to beryllium collaborating pinch SAMRC and DSTI connected South Africa’s 110K Human Genome Program and bringing Africa’s first DNBSEQ-T7 sequencer to Cape Town. This is much than a merchandise launch; it is simply a committedness to guidelines alongside Africa’s scientists successful unlocking nan continent’s genomic imaginable and tackling its unsocial wellness challenges.
By making high-throughput sequencing disposable successful Africa, we are helping move ground-breaking initiatives for illustration this into reality, allowing African genomic information to show its ain communicative while contributing to a resilient, inclusive ecosystem that advances precision medicine for nan region.”
The 110K Human Genome Program seeks to reside a longstanding spread successful world genomics: nan underrepresentation of African familial data, contempt nan continent harbouring nan richest quality familial diverseness successful nan world. Through this partnership, nan SAMRC, DSTI, and MGI are changing nan people of African genomics by establishing South Africa arsenic a location hub for high-quality, locally led genomic research. As nan inaugural gets underway, MGI reaffirms its committedness to supporting South Africa’s broader goals of technological independency and wellness equity. By building section capacity to generate, analyse, and leverage genomic data, nan business will not only amended wellness outcomes for South Africans but besides position Africa arsenic a leader successful nan adjacent era of precision medicine.
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