HUB and BGI-Qingdao sign a Memorandum of Understanding on establishment of a joint center on Next Generation Diagnostics in China

Hubrecht Organoid Technology (HUB) and BGI-Qingdao announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a collaboration to establish a joint Next Generation Diagnostics (NGD) center to improve personalized care, better treatments and cure as well as faster development of new safe medicines in China. The signing ceremony was conducted online in the Netherlands and China.

With their complementary expertise and technology, HUB and BGI will further develop and implement HUB Organoid Technology as predictive diagnostic tests allowing for accurate patient specific prediction of treatment responses initially with focus on cancer.

Pursuant to the MoU, HUB and BGI will establish a HUB-BGI Diagnostic Center in China. Strategic objectives include further development of predictive diagnostics based on HUB’s proprietary Organoid Technology. The collaboration encompasses integration of some of their respective technologies in particular BGI’s Next Generation Sequencing technology (NGS) and HUB Organoid Technology, to develop and improve NGD as an important tool to advance health care services by supporting clinical decisions for cancer patients in China.

“We are delighted to have BGI, a world leader in genomics and personalized technologies, as our partner in China. Together, and in collaboration with other Chinese partners, we intend to develop the joint center as a leader in services of personalized diagnostics for clinical use as well as a center for research, technology and innovation,” said Dr. Robert Vries, CEO of HUB.  

“It is our pleasure to establish a partnership with HUB, a cutting-edge biotech company that has invented and developed many organoid technologies based-on patient-derived adult stem cells. Together with HUB, we will apply and further develop the organoid technologies as a “disease-in-a-dish” to improve disease diagnosis and treatments in China. We expect that global health will benefit from this collaboration as well.”  Said Dr. Junnian Liu, General Manager and Executive Director of BGI-Qingdao.

Source: Hubrecht Organoid Technology (Press release)