FREMONT, Calif., July 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WaferGen Biosystems, Inc. (OTC:WGBS) (BULLETIN BOARD: WGBS) , a leading developer of state-of-the-art genomic analysis systems, today announced that DNA Chip Research Inc. (DCRI), a Japanese contract services provider in functional genomics-based technologies and biology directed by the founder and organizer of the Japanese Human Genome Project, has purchased SmartChip products, including 100 SmartChips. DCRI will provide SmartChip Real-Time PCR services to Japanese scientists.
 

"DCRI is an important company in the evolving genomic analysis market in Japan, whose director, Kenichi Matsubara, is the founder and organizer of the Japanese Human Genome Project," said Alnoor Shivji, chairman and CEO, WaferGen. "We are pleased that they have agreed to exclusively use the SmartChip Platform to perform high throughput, high-density real-time PCR for their customers in Japan. Providing the use of the SmartChip System to researchers in Japan will help to implement our commercialization strategy to expand customer adoption of the SmartChip System into targeted biopharmaceutical companies and translational medical centers."
 

"We chose the SmartChip System to supplement our microarray offerings in order to attract advanced molecular biologists to use our services, as the SmartChip System offers powerful Real-Time PCR technologies with high-throughput analytical capabilities," said Dr. Ryo Matoba, President, DNA Chip Research Inc. "By helping to identify more biomarkers more efficiently, it will provide researchers with new knowledge. We foresee the use of SmartChip by a significant number of Japanese researchers as they search for medicines to target hard-to-treat diseases."
 

DCRI plans to offer microRNA and oncogene and custom gene screening services to their pharmaceutical and academic customers using the SmartChip System and anticipates the use of multiple SmartChips to accommodate research needs, including the initial order of 100 SmartChips. Purchases of the SmartChip System products in Japan are handled through WaferGen's distributor, Takeda Rika Kogyo Co., Ltd.
 

DCRI is one of ten early-access customers using the SmartChip platform to advance genetic research results through the improved identification and validation of biomarkers enabled by its high-throughput capability.
 

The SmartChip Real-Time PCR System
 

The SmartChip Real-Time PCR System is a genomic analysis platform that combines the high-throughput capability and cost efficiencies of existing microarrays, with the sensitivity and accuracy of real-time PCR, offering identification and validation capability in a single platform. The result will be the ability to conduct gene expression research at a fraction of the time and cost currently produced by existing instrument systems. The SmartChip System will provide a number of key ease-of-use features including content-ready chips with gene panels optimized for microRNA, cancer, and whole genome.