Accelrys, Inc., a leading scientific enterprise R&D software and services company, announced on March 16, 2011 the signing of a partnership agreement with Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. Under the terms of the partnership, Accelrys and Oxford Nanopore will develop software to enable complex, real-time analyses of experimental data produced by the Oxford Nanopore single molecule analysis system. Nanopore-specific data analysis pipelines for Pipeline Pilot will be offered as the preferred and supported solution for secondary and higher level data analysis for the Oxford Nanopore DNA sequencing system at the time of its commercial release. These pipelines will use a variety of collections including Accelrys’ newly launched NGS Collection for Pipeline Pilot, a software solution that is compatible with all leading DNA sequencing technologies.

“Pipeline Pilot is a highly adaptable software platform that helps solve a major contemporary problem for scientists,” said Clive G. Brown, chief technology officer of Oxford Nanopore. “Molecular analysis and particularly DNA sequencing is an accelerating field of life science research, but data management and analysis are becoming more challenging. As data volumes grow and algorithms rapidly evolve, the informaticians and scientists involved in NGS analysis need to keep pace. Managing this requires a versatile and agile software platform.”

Clive Brown elaborated, “In our nanopore technology development, we focus on the need to improve overall workflows that deliver experimental results to the end user, not just the molecular analysis part of an experiment. The Accelrys Pipeline Pilot software is uniquely placed to deliver nanopore-specific workflow features such as real-time experimental analysis, in an accessible and versatile way appropriate for a broad range of users from individual researcher to large scale installations. We are pleased to be working with Accelrys on this important project.”

Dr. Frank Brown, senior vice president and chief science officer at Accelrys commented, “The NGS market is growing at a rapid pace, enabled by new higher-throughput technologies and decreasing costs. This is providing life science researchers unprecedented insights into human disease. We are pleased that Oxford Nanopore has selected the Pipeline Pilot NGS Collection as the preferred analysis platform for the single molecule NGS technology that the company is developing. As we enter the NGS market, we are excited to be collaborating with Oxford Nanopore to advance scientific innovation by simplifying and accelerating NGS analysis for genomics researchers.”

The Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Collection for Pipeline Pilot comprises a number of algorithmic, data management and visualisation components. Using these components, scientists can quickly assemble efficient data processing pipelines using simple drag-and-drop construction in an easy-to-use visual programming environment. The pipelines simplify and accelerate comprehensive NGS analysis workflows, providing a wide selection of popular algorithms including methods for de novo assembly, mapping reads to reference sequences, identifying polymorphisms and structural variants, measuring RNA expression levels, and identifying transcription factor binding sites. Users are empowered to develop and contribute new protocols, enabling researchers to access a broad range of traditional and cutting-edge analyses through their network or local computer.