{{Short description|American biotechnology company}} {{Use mdy dates|date = June 2020|cs1-dates = ls}} {{Infobox company| | name = Ultima Genomics, Inc. | type = [[Private company|Private]] | traded_as = | foundation = {{Start date and age|2016}} | hq_location_city = [[Fremont, California]] | hq_location_country = [[United States]] | key_people = {{unbulleted list| Gilad Almogy ([[Chief executive officer|CEO]])}} | industry = Biotechnology | num_employees = 350 | homepage = {{URL|ultimagenomics.com}} }} '''Ultima Genomics, Inc.''' is an American [[biotechnology company]] that develops and manufactures systems for [[high-throughput biology|high-throughput]] [[DNA sequencing]].
==History== Ultima Genomics was founded in 2016 by Gilad Almogy, an Israeli-born American engineer and former head of the [[electronic visual display|display]] group at [[Applied Materials]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.investmentreports.co/interview/gilad-almogy-founder-and-ceo-ultima-genomics-1133|title=Gilad Almogy|website=investmentreports.co}}</ref> In May 2022, the company announced that it had raised $600 million in [[venture capital]] from investors including [[General Atlantic]], [[Andreessen Horowitz]], [[Khosla Ventures]], [[Lightspeed Venture Partners|Lightspeed]], [[Playground Global]], [[D1 Capital Partners|D1 Capital]], and [[Founders Fund]].<ref name="tc">{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/31/ultima-genomics-claims-100-full-genome-sequencing-after-stealth-600m-raise/|title=Ultima Genomics claims $100 full genome sequencing after stealth $600M raise|website=techcrunch.com |date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref> Together with the funding announcement, Ultima released sequencing data collected using the company's technology in pilot partnerships with researchers at the [[Broad Institute]], [[Whitehead Institute]], [[Baylor College of Medicine]], [[Stanford University School of Medicine]], and [[New York Genome Center]].<ref name="tc"></ref>
==UG 100 platform== In 2024, Ultima launched the UG 100 sequencing platform, claiming it to be capable of sequencing 20,000 [[human genome|human genomes]] per year with [[SNV calling from NGS data|variant calling]] accuracy matching or exceeding that of competitor [[Illumina, Inc.|Illumina]]'s sequencing instruments.<ref>{{Cite bioRxiv|last1=Almogy |first1=Gilad |last2=Pratt |first2=Mark |last3=Oberstrass |first3=Florian |last4=Lee |first4=Linda |last5=Mazur |first5=Dan |last6=Beckett |first6=Nate |last7=Barad |first7=Omer |last8=Soifer |first8=Ilya |last9=Perelman |first9=Eddie |last10=Etzioni |first10=Yoav |last11=Sosa |first11=Martin |last12=Jung |first12=April |last13=Clark |first13=Tyson |last14=Trepagnier |first14=Eliane |last15=Lithwick-Yanai |first15=Gila |last16=Pollock |first16=Sarah |last17=Hornung |first17=Gil |last18=Levy |first18=Maya |last19=Coole |first19=Matthew |last20=Howd |first20=Tom |last21=Shand |first21=Megan |last22=Farjoun |first22=Yossi |last23=Emery |first23=James |last24=Hall |first24=Giles |last25=Lee |first25=Samuel |last26=Sato |first26=Takuto |last27=Magner |first27=Ricky |last28=Low |first28=Sophie |last29=Bernier |first29=Andrew |last30=Gandi |first30=Bharathi |display-authors=1 |title=Cost-efficient whole genome-sequencing using novel mostly natural sequencing-by-synthesis chemistry and open fluidics platform |date=2022 |biorxiv=10.1101/2022.05.29.493900 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240206310974/en/Ultima-Announces-UG-100-and-Reveals-Disruptive-Cost-and-Accuracy-Profile-to-Enable-the-Era-of-the-%24100-Genome-and-Beyond|title=Ultima Announces UG 100™ and Reveals Disruptive Cost and Accuracy Profile to Enable the Era of the $100 Genome and Beyond|website=businesswire.com}}</ref> The UG 100 replaces a traditional [[massive parallel sequencing|flow cell]] with a flat circular [[Wafer (electronics)|silicon wafer]] disk. During sequencing, the disk spins to dispense reagents while two fixed-position cameras continuously acquire data. A ≥300-[[nucleotide base|base]] median-length run takes approximately 20 hours to complete.<ref name="umn">{{Cite web|url=https://genomics.umn.edu/service/ug-100-sequencing|title=Ultima Genomics UG 100 Sequencing|website=genomics.umn.edu}}</ref>
The UG 100's chemistry differs from [[Illumina dye sequencing|traditional sequencing-by-synthesis methods]] in that only one [[nucleotide]] species is introduced per data capture cycle, or "flow," eliminating the need for [[base calling]].<ref name="umn"></ref> This flow-based readout results in a distribution of [[read (biology)|read]] lengths, with a median length of at least 300 bases, or approximately 250 bases after [[quality-control]] filtering. With yields of 10-12 billion reads per wafer, this translates to approximately 2.5-3.0 terabases of usable data per run.<ref name="umn"></ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ultimagenomics.com/products/ug-100-sequencing-platform/|title=UG 100 Sequencing Platform|website=ultimagenomics.com}}</ref>
==Partnerships== In 2025, Ultima announced it was partnering with [[Arc Institute]] to support Arc's [[virtual cell]] atlas and competition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arcinstitute.org/news/virtual-cell-challenge-2025|title=Arc Institute launches its inaugural virtual cell competition using AI to solve one of biology's biggest challenges |date=June 26, 2025 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
[[Category:Companies based in Fremont, California]] [[Category:Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]] [[Category:Biotechnology companies of the United States]] [[Category:Biotechnology companies established in 2016]] [[Category:American companies established in 2016]] [[Category:Genomics companies]] [[Category:Research support companies]] [[Category:Health care companies based in California]] [[Category:2016 establishments in California]]