Thermo Fisher Scientific has launched the new Axiom?? PangenomiX Array, its largest and most ethnically diverse array to date, offering optimal genetic coverage for population scale disease studies and pharmacogenomic research. Current large scale genomic datasets, which are used for downstream meta-analysis to build and understand disease risk prediction models, are predominantly based off European and Caucasian cohorts.

With an increasingly diverse and blended global community, there is an urgent need for ethnically diverse data sets to drive genetic insights in other populations, such as African, Asian and increasing mixed populations. Furthermore, the healthcare industry is increasingly moving toward a proactive care model, highlighting the importance of conducting research on the role of genetics in disease risk and drug response. The PangenomiX Array is currently the only research solution that combines four assays in one test: SNP genotyping, whole genome copy number variant detection, fixed copy number discovery, blood and HLA typing.

The high-throughput array is designed to advance disease risk and detection research, population-scale disease research programs, ancestry and wellness testing, drug efficacy testing, and drug development research. Inclusive of clinically relevant pharmacogenomic markers and pathogenic variants, the PangenomiX Array offers researchers enhanced whole-genome imputation and a high level of diversity for testing different ethnicities to keep pace with the growing understanding of the genome. The array has already been used to analyze nearly half a million ethnically diverse samples at a predominant biobank in the U.S. to advance more inclusive research studies related to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease.