Today’s scientific landscape for drug discovery is extremely fast-paced: new technologies emerge constantly accelerating discoveries. Time is of the essence and researchers are seeking innovative ways to integrate more complex data sets to gain valuable insights earlier and increase the chance of success for identification of novel compounds, counteract resistance mechanisms, for drug repurposing studies or personalized treatments (Ivanisevic and Sewduth, 2023). While next generation sequencing (NGS) has become a cornerstone for target identification, validation, biomarker discovery and mode-of-action determination (Satam et al., 2023), many researchers developing new therapeutics lack the resources, equipment or expertise to fully harness its potential.
This challenge can be overcome by partnering with experienced providers, allowing labs to gain access to cutting-edge technologies, skilled personnel, and expedited results. Selecting the right NGS service provider is crucial for the success of your drug discovery projects.
Key Considerations for Choosing the Service Provider that is Right for Your Project
NGS Service providers cater to diverse research communities, including academic translational research institutions, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, clinical research centers, agricultural and veterinary organizations, among others. While all these communities can benefit from outsourcing their sequencing experiments, the needs and requirements can vary strongly – emphasizing the importance to select the best fit as your trusted provider. By carefully considering the following factors, you can choose a suitable provider that aligns with your research goals and helps to drive your projects forward.
Do they provide the right expertise and experience in your area of research?
Select a service provider specialized in NGS with a proven track record in the relevant drug discovery applications, e.g., target identification or biomarker discovery. Ideal providers are able to tailor workflows to the scientific research need and, once established, run them robustly and consistently during the duration of the project and beyond. Research the providers before and consult your representative to learn how the provider operates.
Does the provider offer consultation and support for experimental planning?
Compared to classical, targeted approaches for RNA and DNA analysis such as RT-qPCR and arrays, NGS experiments offer the most comprehensive view across a multitude of sample types in an unbiased manner and are, as a result, more costly and time-intensive. Therefore, experimental planning is of paramount importance to ensure data quality and ultimately the success of your project. With the right setup, batch effects and variance can be minimized for long-term or large-scale studies, increasing biological significance.
Running smaller pilot experiments to test and optimize your experimental setup, sample collection, data quality and to evaluate outcomes in a consultative approach with your selected provider will set you up for long-term success. Your selected provider can also aid in setting up or tailoring analysis or indicate improvements for sample treatment, collection, or delivery. Some providers may also function as vital outsourcing partners for method optimization and implementation, where the service contains generation and optimization of a customized standard operating procedure (SOP) and smooth transition to your site for further in-house use.
Do they offer state-of-the-art technology throughout the process?
Does your selected provider offer access to state-of-the-art platforms that you need, e.g., Illumina, Element Biosciences, 10X Genomics? Often, you will find compatible sequencing platforms or services, e.g., bulk RNA-Seq, offered single-cell technologies or specialty services on the providers webpage – AND, you can always ask your representative about available technologies for your needs.
What security measures are implemented to protect my data and maintain confidentiality?
Does the provider offer robust and secure data storage and transfer according to leading standards to protect your intellectual property? Ask about data security, secure protocols like sFTP should be used for transfer and the data itself should be encrypted during transfer. You can also check if your provider operates according to ISO27001 standards. Providers based in Europe additionally need to adhere to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) laws adding an additional layer of security in terms of integrity, confidentiality and protection against unauthorized access or data loss.
Does the service provider deliver high-quality and reliable data?
One way to assess the quality of the data you can expect from an NGS services provider at an early stage is by asking other users about their experience. Granted, due to the confidential nature of projects specifically in the area of drug discovery it is often impossible to discuss with other users. You can also ask the provider if they can supply references from previous clients.
Alternatively, most providers offer exemplary data analysis reports that offer a glimpse into the expected outcome. Such reports can be available online or per request. Asking questions to the team during initial consulting sessions and running a smaller scale pilot experiment will provide the ideal basis to evaluate the quality of data a services provider can deliver for your project and sample type.
How long is the turnaround time in general and for your project?
Can the service provider in question deliver results for you in time? Drug discovery projects often depend on quick turnaround of larger sample numbers to accelerate discoveries and move to the next phase. Services providers with efficient workflows can deliver results faster while maintaining highest quality standards. Expedite options and flexible scheduling are offered by various providers and allow to accommodate urgent needs and meet strict project timelines.
What can you expect in terms of customer support and collaboration?
Do you have enough support throughout the project? Once you are in contact with the team or your representative, do they follow-up on the project regularly and inform you about current steps or can you access the information in an online portal? Meticulous quality control steps throughout the project can indicate deviations early in the process. Collaborating with a provider offering pro-active check-ins and a responsive support team can alert you early should an experiment indicate suboptimal performance. Samples can thus be resent, rerun, or rescued quickly minimizing delays in data delivery and for the overall project timeline. In addition, does the selected provider offer consultation after the project, advice on data analysis and for follow-up experiments? The scope of the support to be expected or consultation offered alongside the project is often outlined on the website of the provider, for example, Lexogen NGS Services offers consultation before and during the project, and after data delivery to ensure the success of your project. When you find the right partner, projects can be developed and advanced together with expert consultation at any step and across various (follow-up) projects or upon changing needs.
Are the prices of the service provider fair?
Especially for drug development, quality of results is of utmost importance. Nevertheless, the price for the service has to be fair to run larger projects cost effectively. As projects can be as individual as you are, it is often difficult to assess price and quality when selecting a services provider. Even when considering to start with a small pilot project, it is important to ask about pricing and turnaround time for the actual, larger project. Providers with transparent pricing models will be able to provide information or per-sample price for higher and lower sample numbers or may offer very competitive project-based pricing depending on the specific research needs. There may be various options for you to choose from, based on your specific needs and aims. Additional considerations include data analysis options which can be, but don’t have to be part of the package.
Does the service provider offer data analysis or analysis support?
Several service providers offer also data analysis options, mostly for primary and secondary analysis including data quality control (visit our Lexicon for more information on data analysis and the differences between primary, secondary and tertiary analysis). Is data analysis of interest and part of the package? Does the provider offer static reports or is data visualization possible as well? Depending on the project, analysis may be conducted fully by the client or individual steps can be outsourced to the service provider for initial processing under secure standards. Can the service provider offer tertiary analysis as well or reference a trusted provider? By outsourcing data analysis fully or partially to a specialized analysis provider, researchers can accelerate insights, enhance data quality, optimize resource allocation, and access cutting-edge bioinformatics tools and techniques.
About Lexogen NGS Services
Lexogen is a leading provider of NGS services, specialized in RNA sequencing offering a comprehensive range of services, including RNA-seq and DNA-seq, as well as bioinformatics solutions. Lexogen’s expertise in RNA biology, innovative products like LUTHOR, and commitment to quality and efficiency empowers our clients discoveries. Project-tailored services and rigorous quality control ensure accurate and reliable results even for the most demanding applications. Consult with us to accelerate your insights!
Lexogen NGS Services has a proven track record for successful projects in various stages of drug discovery, including:
- Target identification and validation studies from FFPE samples, cell lines, or whole blood samples.
- Pathway discovery studies to map disease-associated networks through kinetic RNA sequencing (SLAMseq)
- High-throughput pathway analysis for various cancer models
- Biomarker discovery from various sample types, including extracellular vesicles
- Immune profiling of PBMCs BCR/TCR-Seq with integrated V(D)J for TCR clonotypes
- Drug repurposing and combinatorial therapeutics expression profiling
- and various others.
Summary
References
Ivanisevic, T., & Sewduth, R. N. (2023). Multi-Omics Integration for the Design of Novel Therapies and the Identification of Novel Biomarkers. Proteomes, 11(4), 34 DOI: 10.3390/proteomes11040034.
Satam, H., Joshi, K., Mangrolia, U., Waghoo, S., Zaidi, G., Rawool, S., Thakare, R. P., Banday, S., Mishra, A. K., Das, G., & Malonia, S. K. (2023). Next-Generation Sequencing Technology: Current Trends and Advancements. Biology, 12(7), 997. DOI: 10.3390/biology12070997.
Written by Dr. Yvonne Goepel
