Complete Genomics is a life sciences company that has developed and commercialized a DNA sequencing platform for human genome sequencing and analysis. This solution combines the company’s proprietary human genome sequencing technology with its informatics and data management software in an outsourced service model that provides its customers with finished variant reports and assemblies. Researchers send DNA samples to the company, which are sequenced at Complete Genomics’ own commercial genome center in Mountain View, California

Mountain View, California

-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...

. Sequencing is completed using the company’s proprietary instruments and technology. Assembled sequences and variant reports are then delivered back to the researcher.

History

Complete Genomics was founded in March 2006 by Clifford Reid, Radoje (Rade) Drmanac, and John Curson. Clifford Reid is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Complete Genomics.

In Feb. 2009, Complete Genomics announced that it had sequenced its first human genome

Genome

In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....

 and submitted the resulting variant data to the National Center for Biotechnology Information

National Center for Biotechnology Information

The National Center for Biotechnology Information is part of the United States National Library of Medicine , a branch of the National Institutes of Health. The NCBI is located in Bethesda, Maryland and was founded in 1988 through legislation sponsored by Senator Claude Pepper...

 database. Then in Nov. 2009, Complete Genomics published sequence data for three human genomes in the journal Science.[1

Science (journal)

Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....

] By the end of that year, Complete Genomics had sequenced 50 human genomes. The company has now significantly increased the throughput in its genome sequencing factory; it sequenced and analyzed 300 complete human genomes in Q3 2010.

In addition, Complete Genomics’ customers are now publishing papers describing research completed using data from Complete Genomics. Examples include the Institute for Systems Biology’s project to sequence a family of four and verify the gene responsible for Miller Syndrome, a rare craniofacial disorder[2] and Genentech’s work to sequence and compare a patient’s primary lung tumor and adjacent normal tissue [3].

Technology Platform

Complete Genomics’ proprietary human genome sequencing technology is optimized for the exclusive study of human DNA, providing assembled sequences and variation files. The technology relies on DNA nanoball sequencing

DNA nanoball sequencing

DNA nanoball sequencing is a high throughput sequencing technology that is used to determine the entire genomic sequence of an organism. The method uses rolling circle replication to amplify small fragments of genomic DNA into DNA nanoballs. Fluorescent probes bind to complementary DNA and the...

. It is designed to use lower volumes and concentrations of reagents than existing systems. Additionally, Complete Genomics’ proprietary instrumentation allows for greater numbers of base reads per image.[1]