Pacific Biosciences and Imec Announce Collaboration to Develop Advanced Microchips for Single Molecule Sequencing Applications

26-07-2012: Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. and Belgium-based nanoelectronics research center imec announced a multi-year research collaboration focused on the development of advanced microchips for highly multiplexed single molecule genetic analysis. This research and development project will build on Pacific Biosciences’ proprietary zero-mode waveguide (ZMW) technology and imec’s expertise in nanophotonics, CMOS sensors, technology integration and fabrication.

“From our inception we have been committed to exploiting the potential of the unique capabilities of our ZMW-based Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT^®) analysis technology to drive innovation in the life sciences,” said Michael Hunkapiller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Biosciences. “The goal of this collaboration is to harness the power of microchips to scale the capacity and throughput of our SMRT technology. We look forward to working with imec on this advanced development program as we continue to expand the application space for our platform.”