Agowa

http://www.agowa.de/

AGOWA is an internationally acting genomics company founded in 1993. Since December 2005, AGOWA has been part of the LGC Group, an international science service company. This move both enhances LGC's capabilities in genetic analysis and also further strengthens LGC's operations in Germany. It is planned that, as part of the LGC Group, AGOWA will continue its track record of continuous growth and will support LGC's strategy to introduce novel analytical and diagnostic services into Germany and across Europe. LGC is Europe's leading provider of analytical and diagnostic services and reference standards. It performs measurement-related genomic research in the UK to advise the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector. LGC also provides extensive DNA analytical capabilities in the field of healthcare and, in the forensic field, in support of UK police forces. AGOWA offers a broad spectrum of high quality, state-of-the-art genomic and related services and products for clients such as large pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies, private and public research institutions as well as medical institutions. Furthermore, the company is a highly respected member of various renowned European genome projects, in which AGOWA has proven its research and technological capabilities. AGOWA's quality management system is certified by DIN EN ISO 9001:2000.

Genomic Services AGOWA looks back on long-standing experience in large-scale sequencing gained in international and national genome projects. The company has been, and still is, involved in a large number of European genome projects (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Bacillus subtilis, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Arabidopsis thaliana, Leishmania major, Aspergillus niger etc.), as well as being a member of the German Human Genome Project. The custom DNA sequencing service, which AGOWA provides their research and industrial based customers, combines state-of-the-art technology (ABI 3730 XL) with experience in large-scale sequencing projects. Highest quality is guaranteed in short time. AGOWAs customers very well appreciate the overnight DNA sequencing service. AGOWA was actually the first company, which introduced the overnight sequencing in Europe. Orders can be placed quickly, comfortably and at any time using AGOW@-line online DNA sequencing service. AGOWA is constantly extending its range of genomic services such as automated picking and replicating of bacterial clones, shotgun libraries, cDNA libraries (either normalized, unnormalized or subtracted) and BAC libraries. The company provides a highly sophisticated service in bioinformatics for an integral and full analysis, annotation and visualization of complete chromosome sequences as well as cDNA and EST data to complete the services in genome analysis. AGOWA's efficiency and methodical flexibility are highly regarded, and thanks to a highly qualified and motivated staff and excellent technical equipment the company has won recognition as a high-end service provider and competent outsourcing partner. Magnetic Separation The automated purification of DNA/RNA from very different sample material is a rapidly developing business unit of AGOWA. The company accumulated a profound application know-how in extraction of nucleic acids from different sample material, what is well recognized by customers. AGOWA's magnetic bead technology using AGOWA's self developed special magnetic particles and kits to separate nucleic acids is predestined for the complete automation of the extraction process since it avoids manual interaction such as centrifugation and phenol extraction steps. AGOWA offers magnetic separators specially developed to automatically process samples, useable on liquid handling robots of different suppliers. Together with the respective separation kits, AGOWA's separators have been implemented on all common liquid handling robots like Hamilton, Perkin Elmer,Tecan, Beckman, etc. Consequently AGOWA is - in co-operation with the robotic systems - able to offer tailor made "turn-key" solutions that are fully adaptable to customer needs, especially regarding any kind of throughput. DNA/RNA Extraction Service The outsourcing market in DNA/RNA extraction is rapidly growing. The combination of state-of-the-art technology with the company's know-how and quality certification attracts customers especially in the pharma-industry who outsource such projects to AGOWA. Strategies AGOWA masters the technologies, knowledge and know-how necessary for a complete analysis of the genome of any biological organism of interest to private or public researchers. The company provides a wide range of genomic services. The technologies are top on the line and totally adaptable to the client's requirements. The isolation of DNA using conventional methods is increasingly proving to be a limiting and time-consuming factor. AGOWA continues to focus on fully automated solutions for multiple applications in routine and research based on its magnetic bead technology. Impressively simple, routine procedures suitable for every laboratory can be offered to provide optimal solutions for any number of processed samples adapted for any type of robot station, dependent on the number of samples to be processed daily.