April 2026 was a busy month for the 3GENES team: three genetics conferences in just 10 days, across Czechia and Slovakia. Our aim was to meet laboratories, research groups and clinical partners in person, show them the complete NGS solutions we represent in the region, and learn what they actually need in their day-to-day work.
Martin, Slovakia: the first stop
We started last week in Martin, where Robert König presented a complete NGS workflow from sample preparation to data analysis. We showed how a single laboratory can build an end-to-end pipeline without relying on centralised services or external providers:
- Twist Bioscience NGS kits: custom target enrichment panels from a handful to more than a million probes, Twist Exome 2.0, TrueAmp LP, the cfDNA TrueAmp Kit and the new MRD Express, shipped within 24 hours.
- Opentrons Flex for fully automated library preparation, with protocols we developed and validated ourselves for Twist, OncoDNA and Hedera Dx.
- PacBio long-read sequencing: the flagship Revio for large population studies and the new benchtop Vega for smaller laboratories.
- QIAGEN Digital Insights: Franklin for AI-assisted variant interpretation (now connected to the HGMD Professional database) and CLC Genomics Workbench for bioinformatics without coding.
The key message was freedom of choice. We do not lock a laboratory into a single ecosystem. We build the workflow from whatever suits the project best: short reads (Twist) and long reads (PacBio), diagnostics (OncoDNA, Hedera Dx) and research (biomodal, seqWell), manual workflows and automation (Opentrons).
Český Krumlov: the DNA conference
This week we continue at the DNA conference in Český Krumlov, the traditional meeting of the Czech and Slovak molecular biology community. The programme covers basic research (single-cell, epigenomics, transcriptomics) as well as translational projects (clinical diagnostics, precision oncology, pharmacogenomics).
Our goal here is not only to present products but above all to listen. What do laboratories lack today? Which data do not reach the system in time? Where is good automation still missing? We take the answers home as input for planning next year’s portfolio.
Prague: the genetics conference
Next week we close the series at the genetics conference in Prague. As a Prague-based distributor, this is our home ground, and we expect a busy schedule of meetings with existing customers and key academic partners.
Why we invest time in conferences
Sequencing in the region is changing fast. Long-read technology from PacBio is no longer exotic (Vega costs a fraction of what was needed two years ago), single-cell applications are spreading beyond the top-tier centres, and clinical diagnostics (OncoDNA, Hedera Dx) is moving from centralised services into in-house laboratories.
Direct contact with the people driving these changes gives us a perspective that emails and video calls cannot.
Get in touch
If you are attending one of the conferences and would like to meet in person, write to info@3genes.com or contact Robert König directly. If you could not make it but have a specific project we could help with, get in touch anyway. We are happy to present the options, run a demo or test the validation on your own samples.
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