WaferGen Bio-systems signs collaboration agreement with Luxembourg Institute of Health

Dec 15 2015

WaferGen Bio-systems (NASDAQ: WGBS) announced today that the Company has signed a collaboration agreement with the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), a leading public medical research center that specializes in oncology, infectious diseases, immunology, and population health. LIH will provide laboratory facilities for the ICELL8™ Single-Cell System and use of its state-of-the art cell culture, genomics and proteomics facilities. The agreement will allow European researchers to evaluate the system, which can also be used to support LIH research programs.

The ICELL8 Single-Cell System is a revolutionary platform which can isolate thousands of single cells and process specific cells of interest for downstream analysis using Next Generation Sequencing. The system was developed in collaboration with several leading medical research centers under an early access program, including the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Recently, WaferGen presented results generated by the ICELL8 Single-Cell System at the Single Cell Genomics Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands, demonstrating that the system is capable of isolating and selecting over 13,000 single cells in less than 8 hours using its automated dispensing and image analysis software.

"The Luxembourg Institute of Health continuously strives to provide the most innovative technologies to advance medical research and improve patient health care," said Dr. Jean-Claude Schmit, General Director, LIH. "Collaborating with leading biotechnology companies, such as WaferGen, is one important avenue to enhance our scientific and academic programs, and we are pleased to be providing both Luxembourg and European researchers access to this novel single-cell analysis system."

In 2011, WaferGen formed a wholly-owned subsidiary in Luxembourg to establish a presence for the Company's marketing and research activities in Europe. The Luxembourg Ministry of Finance provided assistance to support the establishment of the WaferGen subsidiary. Earlier in 2015, the Company established new offices and laboratory space at the LIH.

"We have greatly appreciated the longstanding support of Luxembourg, including the LIH, in facilitating the introduction of WaferGen's technology platforms to the life science and medical research community in Europe," said Dr. Rolland Carlson, CEO of WaferGen Bio-systems. "This agreement to expand LIH's facilities to accommodate the ICELL8 Single-Cell System will now allow us to demonstrate the capabilities of our full suite of technologies, including the SmartChip MyDesign™ Real-Time PCR System, the Seq-Ready™ TE System and the Apollo 324™ System, in Europe. In addition, our recent $17 million financing is being utilized to support the commercial launch of our ICELL8 Single-Cell System in Europe, as well as the U.S."

SOURCE WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc.