GENEWIZ & Hy Laboratories Partner for the Development of Obediome Diagnostic Panels

South Plainfield, NJ, Suzhou, CHINA, and Rehovot, ISRAEL – May 28, 2015 --Leading global genomics service provider, GENEWIZ, announced a partnership with Hy Laboratories Ltd. (hylabs), Israel’s premier provider of microbiology and molecular and cell biology products and services, for the development of novel diagnostic panels for the determination of the gut microbiome in obesity and diabetes. Obesity and diabetes are growing worldwide epidemics that are closely related to the function and population of the gut microbiome.

Utilizing hylabs’ strong association and presence in the healthcare industry – including rich relationships with healthcare management organizations, health insurance companies, hospitals, and private laboratories – and GENEWIZ’s genomics development pipeline, the multi-year development initiative aims to improve stratification for bariatric surgical intervention and/or alternative treatment options for patients suffering with diabetes and obesity. A pioneering clinical study will be conducted at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot Israel, and will be conducted subsequently in the United States.

“With access to hylabs’ patient network, we will target the most relevant microbiota in the gut system via stool sample collection and medical metadata to detect and determine the relative abundance of bacterial and archaeal species in the 16S obediome [obesity and diabetes microbiome],” asserted Dr. Shihong Li, GENEWIZ Manager of Research and Development. “Working together with hylabs, we will apply GENEWIZ’s proprietary next generation sequencing methodologies on both the Illumina MiSeq and the Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM) to capture increased sequence diversity with a very high level of sensitivity.”

This joint venture is one of eleven new projects granted funding this year from the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD Foundation). Awarded bi-annually, the BIRD Foundation approves grants to promote industrial research and development collaborations between United States- and Israeli-based companies for joint product development spanning various technological fields, such as healthcare. To date, BIRD funded projects have helped to generate over $10 Billion of indirect and direct revenue.

“By combining GENEWIZ’s next generation sequencing capabilities with our expertise designing microbiology and toxicity testing, we can accelerate the delivery and commercialization of obediome diagnostic panels,” stated Doron Cohen, hylabs CEO. “We expect hylabs’ vast experience with international regulatory compliance and expertise in molecular gene services to help facilitate product development.”

As a trusted genomics provider to hylabs, GENEWIZ was approached for this endeavor for their reliability, quality, and global capabilities. “The main goal of our strategic partnership is to provide enhanced options, and ultimately an improved quality of life, for patients suffering with diabetes and obesity,” remarked Steve Manobianco, GENEWIZ Vice President, Global Sales & Business Development. “Leveraging GENEWIZ’s global network of laboratories and relationship with Admera Health, GENEWIZ’s spin-off company focused on clinical diagnostics, we are well-positioned to produce new obediome solutions through this collaboration.”

About GENEWIZ

GENEWIZ is a global contract research organization (CRO) specializing in genomic services, including DNA sequencing, gene synthesis, molecular biology, next generation sequencing, bioinformatics, and GLP regulatory-compliant services. GENEWIZ leads the industry in outsourcing partnerships with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, clinical, academic, and government institutions.

Headquartered in South Plainfield, NJ, GENEWIZ is a privately-held global enterprise with locations in Boston, MA; Washington, DC Metro; Research Triangle Park, NC; San Diego, CA; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA. International locations include Beijing, China; Suzhou, China; London, United Kingdom; Langen, Germany; and Tokyo, Japan.

About Hy Laboratories Ltd.

Hy Laboratories Ltd (hylabs), is Israel's leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of tools for detection and identification of microorganisms and molecular biology products. hylabs provides a full range of products and services to the healthcare, industrial, environmental, and academic research markets.

About the BIRD Foundation

The BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation works to encourage and facilitate cooperation between U.S. and Israeli companies in a wide range of technology sectors and offers funding to selected projects. BIRD has approved over 900 projects over its 37 year history. To date, BIRD’s total investment in these projects has been over $300 million and has received approximately $100 million in repayments. BIRD funded projects have generated direct and indirect sales of approximately $10 billion.

The BIRD Foundation provides support of up to 50% of a project’s budget, or up to $1 million, beginning with R&D and ending with the initial stages of sales and marketing. The Foundation supports projects without receiving any rights in the participating companies or in the project itself. The Foundation shares the risk and requires the investment to be repaid only if the project reaches the sales stage.