Discovery Life Sciences Adds The HudsonAlpha Genomic Services Laboratory To Expand Scientific Capabilities

- HUNTSVILLE, Alabama, March 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery Life Sciences™ (Discovery) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to add the Genomic Services Laboratory (GSL) of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, one of the world's premier gene sequencing and bioinformatics laboratories, to form a new division: HudsonAlpha Discovery. The new division, in combination with Discovery's current global biospecimen and analytic services, will provide the highest quality of clinically and scientifically annotated biospecimens, gene sequencing, bioinformatics, and laboratory services to the global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostics industries. This agreement comes on the heels of Discovery's recent European acquisitions and expansion which cemented the company's position as the global leader in biospecimen analysis, procurement, processing, and distribution. Genetic sequencing and bioinformatics services are a natural extension of Discovery's core capabilities. Its new HudsonAlpha Discovery division adds outstanding scientists, clinicians, analysts, and bioinformaticians to provide solutions to complex and sophisticated research challenges—for the first time through a single strategic global provider. "The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a remarkable place. We embrace its vision of advancing science and education to improve health around the world," said Discovery CEO Glenn Bilawsky. "We are so very proud that the Institute selected Discovery to be the stewards of the Genomic Services Laboratory going forward, and of their investment in the future of our company. The HudsonAlpha Discovery platform is one of the largest global installations of the newest Illumina® NovaSeq™ technology, which gives us the scale, speed, and quality to tackle the size and complexity of any sequencing project. With HudsonAlpha Discovery, Discovery Life Sciences is the largest and most capable company to satisfy global market demand for a single strategic partner to provide biospecimens, pathology, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, sequencing, and bioinformatics services to accelerate product development." The HudsonAlpha GSL was built at the Institute by renowned genomic scientist, Shawn Levy, PhD, establishing itself as one of the world's largest academic genomics laboratories. It has supported thousands of research projects and processed hundreds of thousands of biospecimens for healthcare institutions, companies, and investigators around the world. Its scientists provide insights into the understanding of many complex disorders, including cancer, autism, ALS, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, diabetes, and rare and undiagnosed diseases. HudsonAlpha Discovery is the Institute's tenth research and technology transfer for commercialized use and the largest to date. "We are taking two organizations with amazing proficiencies and joining them to achieve capabilities that neither could accomplish alone," said Dr. Levy. "We have limitless opportunities as a specialized development partner. Together with the Discovery Partners® clinical network, we can offer high-density genomic data to provide insights to any project."  Dr. Levy joins Discovery Life Science's executive team as chief scientific officer, Genomics, and will continue as a faculty investigator with HudsonAlpha Institute. About Discovery Life Sciences Discovery Life Sciences is a global market leader in biospecimen analysis, procurement, and distribution for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostics industries. Driven by science, the Discovery team engages with customers in an innovative, consultative approach to overcoming obstacles and reaching a faster end result. We are Science at your Service™! For more information, visit dls.com. About HudsonAlpha Genomic Services LabThe HudsonAlpha Genomic Services Laboratory (GSL) is a globally recognized service laboratory that leverages the most current genomic research technologies to comprehensively support discovery, translational, and clinical research. The GSL's expertise focuses on high-throughput sequencing, workflow optimization, and developing cutting-edge analytical pipelines. About HudsonAlpha Institute for BiotechnologyHudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a nonprofit institute dedicated to developing and applying scientific advances to health, agriculture, learning, and commercialization on one campus. Opened in 2008, HudsonAlpha's vision is to leverage the synergy between discovery, education, medicine, and economic development in genomic sciences to improve the human condition around the globe. To learn more, visit hudsonalpha.org.