Avellino Labs USA, Inc.

Enhanced user experience in NGS sample preparation workflow SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the release of an on-deck thermal cycler (ODTC) that integrates with the Agilent Bravo NGS automated liquid handling platform. The optional ODTC accessory enables the Bravo platform to provide thermal cycling as part of an automated workflow for next-generation sequencing (NGS), end-point PCR, and cell-based applications. An on-deck thermal cycler is critical in many genomics and molecular biology workflows. This optional accessory enables the Bravo NGS automated liquid handling platform to provide thermal cycling as part of an automated protocol and increases "walk-away" time, providing operators with more freedom to focus on higher-level tasks. This setup is beneficial, particularly for applications such as library preparation and target enrichment steps in NGS workflows. "The on-deck thermal cycler enables more seamless workflows on Bravo NGS platforms by eliminating multiple touch points where users must remove a microplate from the Bravo deck and place it on an offline, third-party thermal cycling instrument," said Lars Kristiansen, general manager of Agilent’s Automation Solutions Business. "Adding an ODTC to the Bravo platform extends walk-away opportunities, improves performance, and enhances ease-of-use with preprogrammed protocols. This release supports our customers in high-throughput academic and service provider labs who want to improve productivity and reproducibility while maintaining workflow flexibility." Kevin Kim, head of automation at Avellino Labs, added, "The Bravo with ODTC is a cost-effective and powerful addition to any lab that needs a solution with more walk-away time, smaller footprint, and direct pipetting into the thermal cycler, which is critical for temperature-sensitive assay steps." Kevin Meldrum, general manager of Agilent’s Integrated Genomics Division, added, “With the ODTC on the Bravo, SureSelect users will have an enhanced experience while taking advantage of the flexibility and quality performance of the SureSelect XT HS2 chemistry.” Agilent’s modular workflow solutions are designed to integrate easily and work together seamlessly. The Agilent Bravo NGS workstation with ODTC integrates with SureSelect reagents to provide an automated NGS solution that saves time and minimizes the burden of optimizing new automated assays while providing the flexibility to serve a broad range of application needs. About Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global leader in the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets, delivering insight and innovation that advance the quality of life. Agilent’s full range of solutions includes instruments, software, services, and expertise that provide trusted answers to our customers' most challenging questions. The company generated revenue of $6.85 billion in fiscal 2022 and employs 18,000 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at To receive the latest Agilent news, please subscribe to the Agilent Newsroom. Follow Agilent on LinkedIn and Facebook.

June 8, 2022 11:00 UTC Ms. Gambale’s experience in data technology and finance supports Avellino’s bioinformatics precision medicine mission MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Avellino Labs USA, Inc. (Avellino), a global leader in molecular diagnostics, is pleased to announce the appointment of Virginia Gambale to its Board of Directors. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Virginia Gambale, new member of the Board of Directors for Avellino Lab USA. (Photo: Business Wire) Ms. Gambale is currently Managing Partner of Azimuth Partners LLC, which is focused on the use of disruptive technologies to assist transforming or facilitating growth in both middle market and large corporations. She has served on more than 20 public and private boards as Chair, Lead Director and Committee Chair roles, including at JetBlue, Motive, Piper Jaffray, Workbrain, Synchronoss Technologies, and IQ Financial. Ms. Gambale currently serves on several boards, including as Chair of the Board, Director, Chair of Nominating and Corporate Governance, and Audit Committee member at Nutanix; JAMF Audit Committee Member; FD Technologies as their Chair of Nominating and Governance and Audit Committee member; and Virtu Financial as a member of their Audit and Chair of Risk Committee. She is also an Executive Advisor for AttackIQ, a leading cybersecurity optimization platform, and private company director for Banking 10X. “We are thrilled to welcome Virginia to Avellino. Her expertise in both technology and finance will be invaluable as we continue to leverage the power and promise of genetic science and data technology to support our mission to improve human health,” said Avellino CEO Jon Robson. “We are in an exceptional time as the scientific community is making novel discoveries on a continual basis, not to mention advances in areas such as AI and machine learning that are accelerating the pace of this scientific knowledge,” said Ms. Gambale. “It is a privilege to join a leading biotechnology firm that is committed to applying the latest scientific and technological knowledge to help improve health and further unlock the mysteries of the human genome. I look forward to applying my skills and expertise toward their mission to advance how we both diagnose and treat disease.” Ms. Gambale has held significant senior management positions, including as CIO and Managing Director at firms including Merrill Lynch, Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank and Marsh McLennan. Additionally, she was the Head of Deutsche Bank Strategic Ventures and subsequently a General Partner at Deutsche Bank Capital and ABS Ventures until founding Azimuth Partners in 2003. A former concert pianist, Ms. Gambale was the Board President of the Newport Music Festival from 2014 to 2019. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University and Mentor for Columbia University’s Master’s in Technology Leadership program. In addition, she is a frequent lecturer and keynote speaker on the strategic use of emerging technologies and cybersecurity and was one of the first National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Fellows. Ms. Gambale has a B.S. degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the New York Institute of Technology. About Avellino Avellino Lab USA, Inc. is a global leader in molecular diagnostics at the forefront of precision medicine for eye care. With a long-term mission to develop personalized approaches to improve health and disease management through genomics, the company is developing a transformative genetic diagnostics product pipeline, as well as genetic therapeutics leveraging CRISPR gene editing, to better manage, and potentially cure, inherited diseases. The company also developed the Avellino SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR diagnostic test to aid in COVID-19 pandemic testing efforts in the U.S. The first private company in the U.S. to receive EUA for its COVID-19 test, Avellino has performed more than three million COVID-19 related tests to date. Avellino is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, with operations in Korea, Japan and the UK. To learn more about Avellino, visit .

June 2, 2021 11:30 UTC Novel Test Provides Early Understanding of Eye Disease to Enable Timely Treatment and More Informed Patient Management MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Avellino Labs USA, Inc. (Avellino) today announced full nationwide availability in the U.S. of AvaGen™, The Genetic Eye Test, as the first genetic test that helps determine a patient’s risk of keratoconus and the presence of other corneal dystrophies. The test allows for more confident management and treatment for patients with these conditions in order to protect and preserve patient vision. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: AvaGen is the first genetic test that helps determine a patient’s risk of keratoconus and the presence of other corneal dystrophies. (Photo: Business Wire) The test is designed to provide keratoconus patients with an earlier benefit from FDA-approved cross-linking treatment, which can halt disease progression and preserve vision. The AvaGen results can also influence an eye care professional’s choice of refractive surgery options for patients. The AvaGen genetic test examines 75 keratoconus-related genes and more than 2,000 variants of those genes to develop an actionable keratoconus genetic risk score. As certain ethnicities have a higher prevalence of this eye condition1, the AvaGen test also factors this information into its results. For corneal dystrophies, AvaGen determines the presence of any of the 70 TGFBI gene variants and provides a conclusive diagnosis of corneal dystrophy sub-types, such as Epithelial Basement Membrane, Granular and Lattice disease distinctions, Reis-Bucklers, Schnyder and Theill-Behnke. “Assessing keratoconus is multi-factorial. Until now, genetic data has been missing from the equation. I order AvaGen when I have any red flag concerns in my refractive surgical evaluations, such as high astigmatism or steep corneal curvature, against-the-rule or irregular astigmatism in younger patients, a thin cornea, or in family members of a known keratoconus patient. AvaGen helps me know earlier about a patient’s genetic predisposition and allows me to make confident treatment and management decisions,” says Elizabeth Yeu, MD, of Virginia Eye Consultants, an advisor to Avellino. Keratoconus is a progressive vision disorder affecting approximately 885,000 Americans2 (1 in 375) that is often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed in its earlier stages, when it can be better managed and treated to protect and preserve vision. Today’s corneal diagnostic imaging tools often do not diagnose the disease early or misdiagnose keratoconus as astigmatism or myopia, and most optometrists do not have access to these imaging tools. Because of this, patients are typically managed with a “wait-and-see approach,” which often results in a diagnosis only after vision has been impacted. Corneal dystrophies are a rarer group of genetic diseases, which can cause not only vision loss, but also pain and discomfort for the nearly 280,000 patients in the U.S.3 with some type of corneal dystrophy. Other diagnostic tools are often unable to provide a definitive diagnosis of the disease. Avellino Chief Scientific Officer Nazneen Aziz, Ph.D., states, “We are pleased to make an impact on patients’ lives by uncovering the genetic risk of sight-threatening diseases and enabling doctors to deliver a higher level of personalized, targeted eye care. AvaGen empowers eye care professionals with genetic data for everyday use in their medical practice so they can detect earlier the risk of developing keratoconus versus other, more traditional methods, and take actionable decisions on the best course of treatment to protect and preserve vision.” Avellino CEO and President Jim Mazzo notes, “It is exciting to be part of transforming eye care with the national introduction of the first comprehensive genetic test for patients with these challenging conditions. I congratulate our Avellino team on accomplishing this important commercial milestone for the company, and for taking a giant step on our path to developing a host of genomic tests for personalized disease management.” He continues, “While we made AvaGen available in late 2019, we quickly pivoted our resources to do our part to address the COVID-19 pandemic over the last year with the development of our widely-used SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 test, which received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA. Thanks to widespread testing and adoption of the COVID-19 vaccines, we are now able to offer AvaGen nationally.” AvaGen is designed to be easy to use, requiring only a simple cheek swab that is sent to Avellino’s high complexity CLIA-certified lab for analysis. An eye care professional receives results in days in an intuitive and actionable report via a HIPAA-secured patient portal. Genetic counsel is provided alongside test results to ensure eye care professionals and their patients clearly understand the results and their implications for patient management. About Avellino Avellino Lab USA, Inc. is a global leader in gene therapy and molecular diagnostics at the forefront of precision medicine for eye care. With a long-term mission to develop personalized approaches to improve health and disease management through genomics, the company is developing a transformative genetic diagnostics product pipeline, as well as genetic therapeutics leveraging CRISPR gene editing, to better manage, and potentially cure, inherited diseases. The company also developed the Avellino SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR diagnostic test to aid in COVID-19 pandemic testing efforts in the US and was the third private company in the US to receive EUA for its COVID-19 test. Avellino is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, with operations in Korea, Japan, China and the UK. To learn more about Avellino, visit . 1. Hassan MD, Heydarian, Samira PhD, Hooshmand, Elham MSc, Saatchi, Mohammad PhD, Yekta, Abbasali PhD, … Khabazkhoob, Mehdi PhD. (Feb. 2000). The Prevalence and Risk Factors for Keratoconus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Cornea, The Journal of Cornea and External Disease. Retrieved from . 2. Godefrooij DA, De Wit GA, Uiterwaal CS, Imhof SM, Wisse RPL. Age-specific incidence and prevalence of keratoconus: a nationwide registration study. American Journal of Ophthalmology. 2017;175:169-172. 3. David C. Musch, Leslie M. Niziol, Joshua D. Stein, Roheena M. Kamyar, Alan Sugar. Prevalence of Corneal Dystrophies in the United States: Estimates from Claims Data. (Aug. 2011). Retrieved from .