Our History

CeGaT, a global provider of sequencing services for research, clinical studies, and human genetic diagnostics, is now using the latest and most powerful sequencing system from Illumina. With the NovaSeq™ X Plus, CeGaT can carry out research projects previously considered unfeasible due to their enormous data volume.

The DIN EN ISO 17025 accreditation describes the general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories and guarantees technically valid test and calibration results. Thus, CeGaT’s portfolio includes all important accreditations and certifications required for the worldwide distribution of human genetic services.

The new building triples the office and laboratory space to 12,000m2 of floor area and thus accommodates the space requirements of the rapidly growing company. At the joint groundbreaking ceremony with CeGaT’s managing directors Dr. Dirk Biskup and Dr. Dr. Saskia Biskup, Tübingen’s mayor Boris Palmer and the architects Maren Dannien and Matthias Roller, the first construction phase was heralded.
The new building, which is scheduled for completion at the end of 2023, is directly adjacent to the existing building. Additional laboratory and office space will be built on three floors to accommodate 400 to 500 employees upon completion.

CeGaT is the first provider in Germany to perform corona antibody tests and is continuously expanding the corona diagnostics portfolio – from genome sequencing to pool or express PCR tests. With up to seven test stations at times, CeGaT supports the city of Tübingen in the realization of the model project “Öffnen mit Sicherheit”.

CeGaT aims to solve all genetically-caused cases of disease to help physicians state a diagnosis. To pursue this goal, CeGaT incorporated its long-term expertise and latest scientific knowledge in an innovative diagnostic tool: CeGaT’s ExomeXtra® is the most powerful genetic diagnostic option for patients with complex, unspecific, and rare diseases.

CeGaT GmbH expands its business division for sequencing services: Through “Research and Pharma Solutions”, the globally operating company offers individual approaches for projects from science and the pharmaceutical industry.

The newly founded company CeCaVa GmbH & Co. KG, which is based in Tübingen, is devoted to developing individualized vaccines that are to be used to treat diseases, particularly tumorous diseases. CeCaVa stands for “Center for Cancer Vaccines.”

The company focuses on developing patient-specific vaccines for treating tumors. In doing so, CeCaVa can build on the longstanding experience of CeGaT GmbH in the field of genetic tumor diagnostics.

Joining CeGaT’s fleet of HiSeq® 4000, HiSeq 2500, and MiSeq® instruments, the newest Illumina platform released in March 2017 – NovaSeq 6000 instrument with S2 flowcell configuration – can now sequence up to 130 human exomes in 29 hours. That is an increase in output by 30% and twice faster than the HiSeq 4000 platform.

After receiving CAP accreditation in 2016, CeGaT has been granted Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certification by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), ensuring compliance with all standards required to process Human DNA samples originating from the United States.

After the successful laboratory inspection by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) in March 2016, CeGaT has received CAP accreditation, and thus complements the existing accreditation according to DIN EN ISO 15189. Both the CAP accreditation and the accreditation according to DIN EN ISO 15189 cover the full diagnostic spectrum of CeGaT, including the next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based analysis methods. Therefore, CeGaT meets worldwide recognized standards in diagnostics which are only shared by a handful of German human genetic laboratories. Since CeGaT’s founding, the company has always been committed to highest quality of its diagnostic services.

CeGaT has expanded its product range in the field of sequencing services by offering exome analyses for research purposes.

The service includes exome sequencing and, if required, also comprehensive data analysis. Thereby, the sequencing depth can be adjusted to the specific demand. Customers from research areas are given the opportunity to receive an analysis fitting to their requirements and may also profit from the quality already established in our diagnostics.

Since the beginning of May 2015 the non-invasive prenatal test Harmony^TM is being performed in Germany by Cenata GmbH. Cenata GmbH was founded jointly by Labor Enders, CeGaT GmbH and Prof. Dr. Hinrichsen. The Harmony^TM test reliably detects the most common chromosomal disorders in unborn children.

CeGaT and dw sport horses GmbH found CAG GmbH – Center for Animal Genetics to bring cutting-edge research to horse, dog, and cat breeders and owners, providing tools to improve the genetic health and welfare of their animals. This partnership brings together CeGaT’s award-winning expertise in molecular genetics, sequencing, and data analysis and dw sport horses’ experience in the world of horses and animal breeding.

After barely 200 days of construction, the new office and laboratory building with 4,000 square meters in Tübingen at the “Obere Viehweide” is ready. This marks CeGaT’s farewell to the premises in the Tübingen-Reutlingen Technology Park.

CeGaT GmbH will construct its new laboratory and office building. The building, in which all of CeGaT’s activities will be concentrated from mid-2014, will comprise 4,000 square meters of laboratory and office space.

B. Braun Melsungen AG acquires a 20 percent stake in CeGaT GmbH, based in Tübingen, Germany. With this step, B. Braun enters the market for genetic diagnostics for the first time.

CeGaT’s laboratories are accredited by the German accreditation body according to DIN EN ISO 15189.

CeGaT develops so-called Diagnostic Panels for the clarification of genetic diseases. In this process, all genes that are associated with a disease are combined in one panel and, thanks to high-throughput technology, can be sequenced in parallel instead of one after the other, as has been the case up to now. This means that an enormous number of genes can be examined, drastically shortening the time to test result and significantly increasing the clarification rate.

Dr. Dr. Saskia Biskup and Dr. Dirk Biskup found the CeGaT GmbH. They are the first company to combine high-throughput sequencing with human genetic diagnostics. Their vision is to provide the appropriate approach for each patient to find the cause of a genetic disease and thus enable diagnosis and targeted treatment. DNA and RNA sequences from diseased or healthy tissue of humans, animals and plants are analyzed. The company also offers interpretation of the data and is a contact for private individuals, physicians and researchers.