Benchtop HiFi: PacBio Unveils Vega

Well, the embargo has passed and one of the worst kept rumors of genomics land has come true: at this year's ASHG PacBio has unveiled their benchtop instrument, Vega.  At about 2 feet for each dimension, it should fit easily in many labs, and there's no utility requirements beyond standard power (120V in US/220 V for Europe). With a list price of $169K or the alternative reagent rental pricing of $80K and a two year reagent commitment, it should fit many budgets.  Vega runs a single 25M (Revio) flowcell in 24 hours to produce one 20X HiFi human genome.  

Revio Refresh

ASHG is ongoing and tonight PacBio has a big party planned, with an unnamed musical guest.  Rumors swirl as to what will be announced at that event.  But in advance of the meeting, last week PacBio described multiple updates to the Revio platform, an instrument which made its debut two years ago at ASHG.  PacBio CEO Christian Henry was kind enough to chat with me last week about the upgrades.