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AGBT 2026

Per-launch dossiers and program notes from the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology General Meeting (Marco Island, FL, February 22–25, 2026) — the sequencing-platform and spatial-genomics showcase of the year.

Status: Concluded. Build-out is queued from public coverage. AGBT runs under a closed-ish abstract policy (concurrent-session abstracts are visible to attendees but not posted publicly), so this vault uses a JPM-style "one degree removed" build: every claim is sourced to a vendor press release, GenomeWeb post, Bio-IT World story, C&EN recap, or substack/blog summary. No primary transcripts.

Why this is in the vault

AGBT is upstream of every downstream tool dossier across the vault:

  • AACR 2026 posters that report Visium HD, Xenium, CosMx, or MERSCOPE data are running on platforms that were either first announced or roadmap-updated at AGBT.
  • EuroBioC 2025 Bioconductor packages (SpatialExperiment, SpatialFeatureExperiment, DESpace) consume output from these instruments — their relevance scales with whichever platform wins shelf space at AGBT.
  • GBCC 2025 tools (Voyager, spatialLIBD, SOSTA) likewise depend on the spatial-platform output formats announced here.
  • Long-read methods (PacBio HiFi/Revio, ONT PromethION) feed into structural-variant and haplotype-resolved assembly tracks at every downstream meeting.

So while AGBT itself isn't a Bioconductor or pharma-deal conference, its launches set the substrate for everything else.

Start here

  • Per-launch dossiers — one page per vendor announcement: chemistry, throughput, accuracy, cost-per-Gb, availability, headline benchmarks, competitive context.
  • Program notes — confirmed sessions, organizing committee, vendor PR index, post-event recap aggregator, cross-vault links.

At a glance (top platform headlines)

Vendor Launch Headline number Availability Source
Roche Axelios 1 sequencer $150 30× human genome (duplex); instrument $750k Pre-order post-AGBT; formal launch summer 2026 GenomeWeb
Element Biosciences VITARI benchtop sequencer $100 genome, 10B reads/run, 3 TB output, $689k list Pre-orders open; ships H2 2026 Element PR
Ultima Genomics UG200 / UG200 Ultra Q60 ppmSeq duplex; 162 Tb/wk (UG200 Ultra); $850k / $1.25M At AGBT Vilella substack
Complete Genomics (→ Swiss Rockets) DNBSEQ-T7+ 48B reads/24h, Q40, $100 genome, $800k US list Shipping in US/Canada now Complete Genomics PR
Illumina TruPath synthetic-long-read + Q70 duplex roadmap $395 / genome on TruPath; Q70 duplex kits H2 2026 early access Mixed (TruPath shipping; Q70 EA H2 2026) Vilella substack
PacBio CiFi (long-read 3C) + SPRQ-Hq + SMRT cell reuse Chromosome-scale assemblies from a single SMRT cell Shipping (CiFi); SMRT reuse early access PacBio PR
Oxford Nanopore PromethION cfDNA/cfRNA + Q38 duplex talks Joint cfDNA+cfRNA nanopore multiomic cancer monitoring Roadmap ONT AGBT page
Singular Genomics G4X Spatial Sequencer (official release) 500-plex RNA + 18-plex protein + H&E equivalent, ~$100s/sample Officially released week of AGBT GEN recap
10x Genomics Xenium RNA+Protein multiomics; Atera spatial preview Xenium: 28-plex protein + 500-plex RNA, FFPE-compatible Xenium RNA+Protein mid-2026; Atera formal launch at AACR (April) GenomeWeb
Bruker Spatial Biology CellScape spatial proteomics + PaintScape 3D + CosMx mouse WT CosMx mouse whole-transcriptome + 64 proteins Roadmap updates GEN recap
Stellaromics Pyxa (first 3D spatial imager) 3D spatial imaging — AGBT debut Newcomer launch GEN recap
Vizgen MERSCOPE Ultra + MERFISH 2.0 + proteomics Expanded panels, organoid support Roadmap GEN recap

All numbers above are vendor PR figures, not validated benchmarks. Reagent costs exclude library prep, instrument depreciation, and labor in most cases. See per-launch pages for source citations and caveats.

Program shape

AGBT 2026 ran four days at Marco Island with the customary structure:

  • Plenary sessions (mornings) — invited speakers in Genomics / AI in Genomics / Genetics & Technology / Evolutionary Genomics tracks.
  • Concurrent sessions (Tue/Wed evenings) — abstract-selected talks across Cancer, Computational Biology, Technology, and Biology tracks. Abstracts visible to attendees only.
  • Sponsor workshops — Illumina (Gold), Ultima/Bruker Spatial/Roche (Silver), plus nine Bronze workshops.
  • Poster sessions — closed (no public abstract book).

See program notes for the confirmed plenary speaker list and organizing-committee co-chairs.

Source aggregators

Front pages and post-event recaps that index AGBT 2026 coverage:

Caveats

  • AGBT abstracts are closed-ish (visible to attendees but not posted to a public abstract server like AACR). Every claim in this vault is reconstructed from third-party coverage and vendor PR.
  • Vendor specs are routinely PR-distorted. Cost-per-genome numbers assume best-case duplex/reagent-only pricing and exclude library prep, instrument amortization, labor, and reanalysis. Treat them as ceiling claims.
  • Date/venue note: the agbt.org agenda page as fetched lists Orlando, Feb 23–26 — this conflicts with the dates/venue confirmed by the build brief and by 10times and historical record (Marco Island has been the canonical AGBT venue). Flagged on program notes for resolution.
  • Roche's Axelios 1 was announced the day after AGBT closed (Feb 26 press release) but its tech reveal happened at the meeting — treated as an AGBT 2026 launch for indexing purposes, with the press date noted.
  • 10x Genomics Atera had a roadmap preview at AGBT but its formal commercial launch happened at AACR 2026 in April. Dossier lives in the AGBT vault under "roadmap preview" with a cross-link to the AACR launch.