- Announces majority investment in NGS bioinformatics solution provider Ridom GmbH
- New NGS microbiology solutions for hygiene testing and epidemiological studies
- HAI (Hospital-Acquired Infections) tracing with rapid, cost-effective IR Biotyper® testing, followed by selective NGS reflex testing for confirmation and phylogeny
- Unique workflow with MALDI Biotyper®-based microbial species identification followed by selective NGS-based strain determination and detailed genomic analysis
Billerica, Massachusetts, USA – April 23, 2025 – At the ESCMID Global 2025 (www.eccmid.org) conference, Bruker´s Microbiology and Infection Diagnostics division announced the expansion of its microbiology solutions into Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) applications, with new, research-use only NGS-based solutions in epidemiology and hospital acquired infection (HAI) tracing.
Bruker has entered into a strategic collaboration for NGS bioinformatics applications in microbiology and infectious disease testing with Ridom GmbH, based in Muenster, Germany. Ridom´s NGS bioinformatics software SeqSphere+™ is designed for genomic bacterial strain differentiation, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), core genome MLST (cgMLST), phylogenetic analysis, and real-time clonal and plasmid transmission detection. SeqSphere+ can handle data from various NGS instrument platforms. Ridom is profitable, and financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
The new genomic analysis capabilities are immediately beneficial in hospital hygiene and epidemiological analysis by combining complementary, rapid first-line testing with the cost-effective, short time-to-result IR Biotyper for the detection and rule-out of HAI outbreaks, followed by reflex testing on selected samples by NGS for in-depth phylogenetic analysis. Similarly, important samples can be sequenced after species identification with the MALDI Biotyper to gain genomic insights.
Professor Dag Harmsen, the founder and Managing Director of Ridom, said: “We are delighted to become an important part of Bruker´s Microbiology & Infection Diagnostics solutions. Bruker has a track record of bringing innovation to microbiology, and our new strategic collaboration ensures sustainable service for our NGS customers, and creates new opportunities for our significant growth as part of Bruker´s global microbiology team.”
Professor John Rossen, Professor of Personalized Molecular Microbiology in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control at the University of Groningen and Isala Hospital Zwolle, The Netherlands, commented: “At our laboratories, we have been working with Ridom’s SeqSphere+ software and the Bruker MALDI Biotyper for many years. I am excited about potential synergies between fast microbial identification and in-depth genomic information in order to provide, for example, further insights into the spreading of antibiotic resistances.”
Dr. Wolfgang Pusch, President of Bruker´s Microbiology & Infection Diagnostics Division, added: “Since the introduction of our MALDI Biotyper for fast, near-universal microbial identification from cultures, we are committed to bringing innovations to microbiology. The novel, research-use only combination of our IR Biotyper for rapid, cost-effective and strain-specific detection or rule-out of hospital outbreaks, in combination with NGS reflex testing for genomic interpretation with SeqSphere+, provides a unique triage offering for epidemiology and healthcare acquired infection tracing.”
