Historical Background

HGS was founded in 2001 with a primary focus on DNA methylation

HGS is a nucleic acid technology company that has invented and commercialised various novel technologies

The most widely used method for methylation analysis, the bisulphite method, was invented by Dr Geoff Grigg, one of the Co. founders, and became HGS’ core focus in the early days of the Co.

This method has been substantially improved by Dr Douglas Millar and is now owned by HGS (see Technology)

Notable amongst it’s developments are a high-throughput methylation screening platform (384 genes) and a revolutionary method for improved diagnostic testing for microbial pathogens:

As a result of HGS’ bisulphite work, the Co. made an interesting discovery:

The treatment of microbial DNA by sodium bisulphite effectively reduces the four base DNA code to three bases

This treatment creates a synthetic genome that does not exist in the natural world that has universal applicability to molecular diagnostic assays.