Custom Target Enrichment for Brain Tumor Genomics:
A Celemics Case Study Published in Science and Molecular Cancer
Tracing the Origins of Brain Tumors, Why Researchers Chose Celemics Custom Target Enrichment Technology
Brain tumors remain one of the most challenging cancers due to their high recurrence rates and complex genomic characteristics. Detecting low-frequency variants that exist in only a small fraction of tumor cells requires highly sensitive and precise NGS analysis.
Recently, research teams led by Professor Jeong-Ho Lee at KAIST and Professor Seok-Gu Kang at Yonsei Severance Hospital published groundbreaking studies in Science (2026) and Molecular Cancer (2025) investigating the origins and recurrence mechanisms of gliomas. Celemics’ custom Target Enrichment technology was applied throughout these studies and was officially cited in the published papers.
Rather than focusing solely on the scientific discoveries themselves, this post highlights why the researchers selected Celemics’ custom Target Enrichment solution and how its technical strengths supported complex brain tumor genomics research.
Understanding the Origin and Recurrence of Gliomas
The research team first reported in Nature (2018) that glioblastoma (GBM) originates from mutated neural stem cells in the subventricular zone (SVZ), rather than from the visible tumor mass itself.
Building on this work, the team later demonstrated in Molecular Cancer (2025) that recurrent tumors after surgery also arise from mutated cells remaining in the SVZ. Most recently, the study published in Science (2026) revealed that IDH-mutant gliomas in young adults originate from glial progenitor cells located in the peritumoral cortex.
These studies required extremely sensitive genomic analysis capable of:
- detecting ultra-low VAF mutations
- analyzing difficult genomic regions
- maintaining consistent coverage across long-term studies
- supporting multiple NGS platforms
To achieve these goals, the researchers replaced their previous global competitor’s product with a custom Target Enrichment solution developed by Celemics.
Why Celemics Target Enrichment Technology Was Selected
- Minimizing Blind Spots with Uniform Coverage
Conventional commercial panels often contain genomic blind spots where insufficient coverage makes reliable analysis difficult.
Celemics minimized these blind spots through optimized probe design and Target Enrichment technology, enabling uniform and deep sequencing coverage across the entire target region. This was particularly important for capturing glioma-associated regions that are difficult to analyze using standard panels.
- High Accuracy for Low-VAF Variant Detection
The cellular origins of brain tumors often contain mutations with variant allele frequencies below 1%, making accurate detection technically challenging.
Celemics’ Target Enrichment workflow improved sensitivity while reducing false negatives and sequencing artifacts, helping researchers generate highly reliable genomic data from extremely low-frequency variants. - Compatibility Across Multiple NGS Platforms
Different NGS platforms require different library structures and capture optimization strategies.
Celemics provides platform-optimized panel designs compatible with multiple sequencing systems. The custom panel used in these studies demonstrated compatibility across both short-read and long-read sequencing workflows, including: Illumina, Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) . This flexibility allowed researchers to maintain stable capture performance regardless of sequencing platform. - Optimized Custom Panel Design for Glioma Research
To track glioma evolution and recurrence, the researchers required highly specific analysis targeting critical glioma-associated genes such as EGFR. IDH1, and TERT promoter. Rather than relying on a fixed commercial panel, the team needed a customized solution optimized specifically for these targets.
Celemics directly designed and manufactured a custom panel capable of efficiently capturing 15 glioma-related genes, enabling high-quality sequencing performance throughout the project.
Celemics custom panel (15 genes) for gliomas: performance data (Illumina)
| 15 Glioma-related regions | ||
|---|---|---|
| EGFR | PTEN | TP53 |
| NF1 | PIK3CA | PIK3R1 |
| ATRX | IDH1 | PDGFRA |
| RB1 | SPTA1 | CIC |
| ARID2 | IDH2 | TERT promoter |
Celemics Internal Data
| Sample A | Sample B | Sample C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-target ratio | 81.55% | 81.23% | 80.89% |
| Mean depth coverage | 434.64 | 410.21 | 412.80 |
| Uniformity (St.Dev) | 0.33 | 0.38 | 0.43 |
| Fold-80 base penalty | 1.58 | 1.59 | 1.59 |
| Uncovered | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
The panel design and manufacturing capability of Celemics was officially acknowledged in the published studies.
“Probes that effectively captured these 15 glioma-related genes were designed and manufactured by Celemics, Inc.”— Science (2026)
“The targeted gene hybrid sequencing was designed and manufactured by Celemics Inc. (Seoul, Korea).”— Molecular Cancer (2025)
These citations demonstrate that Celemics technology supported not only sequencing performance, but also the overall success of globally recognized brain tumor research.
Precision Target Enrichment for Complex Cancer Genomics
In precision oncology research, success depends not only on the number of genes analyzed, but on the ability to accurately detect difficult regions and ultra-low-frequency variants. Celemics provides custom Target Enrichment solutions optimized for:
- low-VAF variant detection
- difficult genomic regions
- multi-platform NGS compatibility
- customized panel optimization
The application of Celemics technology in studies published in Science and Molecular Cancer demonstrates how optimized Target Enrichment workflows can support high-precision cancer genomics research in real-world settings.
Explore Celemics Custom NGS Panel Solutions
Celemics provides customized Target Enrichment solutions tailored to challenging cancer genomics applications and advanced research workflows.
From difficult genomic regions to low-frequency variant detection and multi-platform sequencing compatibility, Celemics supports high-precision genomic analysis optimized for your research goals.
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