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PromethION cfDNA/cfRNA multi-omic — Oxford Nanopore Technologies

At a glance

  • Vendor: Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT)
  • Launch date / venue: Roadmap preview at AGBT 2026 (Marco Island, FL, Feb 22–25, 2026)
  • Availability: Roadmap — not shipping at AGBT 2026 per ONT AGBT 2026 page
  • Modality: PromethION-class long-read nanopore, optimised for combined cfDNA + cfRNA from a single liquid-biopsy sample
  • Throughput: PromethION-class (per-flow-cell output unchanged from current PromethION Plus generation) per ONT AGBT 2026 messaging
  • Accuracy: Q38 duplex target per ONT roadmap (vendor PR — no independent benchmark)
  • List price: TBD

What's new

ONT's pitch is a single PromethION workflow that interrogates cfDNA and cfRNA simultaneously from one liquid-biopsy draw, with native methylation and base modifications preserved. The roadmap also targets Q38 duplex accuracy, narrowing ONT's historical accuracy gap with HiFi and SBS chemistries while keeping native-long-read advantages (single-molecule methylation, structural variants, fusion detection).

Headline benchmarks

  • Q38 duplex accuracy target — roadmap claim, no independent dataset released at AGBT 2026 per ONT AGBT 2026 conference page (vendor PR — no independent benchmark).
  • cfDNA + cfRNA co-extraction yield, LOD for low-frequency variants, and matched ctDNA-panel concordance not yet disclosed publicly.

Reception / competitive context

The cfDNA/cfRNA multi-omic angle puts ONT directly into the liquid-biopsy / MRD lane dominated by short-read incumbents (Illumina-powered Guardant / Natera / Tempus pipelines, plus Element AVITI cfDNA assays). ONT's differentiator is native methylation + long-read structural variant / fusion calling from the same molecules. Roadmap status means AGBT 2026 was about positioning, not benchmark data — expect first independent data at ASHG 2026 or AACR 2027 timelines.

  • Liquid-biopsy / cfDNA applications connect to the AACR clinical-trials axis (MRD, treatment response, resistance tracking) and ASCO plenary tracks on ctDNA-guided therapy.
  • Competitor short-read cfDNA platforms: Element VITARI / AVITI cfDNA, Illumina NovaSeq X cfDNA panels.
  • AGBT 2026 cross-ref: Christopher Mason (Weill Cornell) / Jiwoon Park ONT-platform talks at AGBT 2026.

Sources