Case Study: Biogazelle identifies lncRNA biomarkers in fragmented RNA samples with Illumina NextSeq 500 and TruSeq RNA Exome

Identifying lncRNA Biomarkers in Highly Fragmented RNA Samples

Biogazelle, a company specializing in transcriptome analysis, faced the challenge of identifying long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) biomarkers in extremely difficult cancer samples from FFPE tissue and liquid biopsies. These samples contained ultra-low amounts of highly fragmented RNA, making them hard to sequence effectively. Biogazelle worked with Illumina to overcome this using the NextSeq 500 System and TruSeq RNA Exome Library Prep Kit.

The solution from Illumina involved custom probes developed from the LNCipedia database to target low-abundant lncRNAs, alongside workflow optimizations for low-input samples. As a result, Illumina enabled Biogazelle to perform accurate and sensitive RNA measurements with just a few nanograms of total RNA. This breakthrough opened new possibilities for Biogazelle's customers to study lncRNAs in oncology and neurology that were previously inaccessible.

Biogazelle

Jo Vandesompele

Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer