PtBio Fully Adopts the RNA-seq Analysis Cloud Platform “Basepair”: 2026-05-07
- PtBio Inc.
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
PtBio Fully Adopts the RNA-seq Analysis Cloud Platform “Basepair”
Enters Sales Partnership with Iwai Chemicals to Provide an RNA-seq Data Analysis Environment that Enables Researchers to Explore and Utilize Data Independently
PtBio Inc. (Head Office: Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture; CEO: Keisuke Okuhara; hereinafter “PtBio”) and Iwai Chemicals Company Ltd. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Yoshiko Iwai; hereinafter “Iwai Chemicals”) announce that PtBio has officially adopted “Basepair,” the RNA-seq analysis cloud platform provided by Basepair Inc. (USA), and will begin applying it to its RNA-seq data analysis services starting May 1, 2026. As the domestic sales partner for Basepair, Iwai Chemicals will support the implementation and operation of the platform at PtBio.
This service combines PtBio’s expertise in RNA-seq analysis with Basepair’s browser-based interactive visualization environment, enabling customers without in-house bioinformatics specialists to independently explore and examine analysis results.
■Background of the Adoption
RNA-seq (RNA sequencing) is widely used in fields ranging from basic research to industrial applications as a technology for comprehensive gene expression analysis. However, extracting biologically meaningful insights from massive sequencing datasets requires multiple bioinformatics processes, including data processing, quality control, statistical analysis, and visualization.
For service providers, the workload of specialized personnel has become a bottleneck affecting delivery timelines and costs. Meanwhile, customers requesting analysis services often face difficulties in actively exploring insights relevant to their own hypotheses when they can only wait for and receive completed reports.
In particular, research and development departments and companies without in-house bioinformatics personnel face structural challenges in flexibly responding to needs such as reanalysis with adjusted thresholds or sharing results with collaborative researchers, limiting effective utilization of analysis results.
PtBio’s strengths include its proven track record in RNA-seq analysis services specializing in non-model and industrially useful organisms, as well as value-added analysis through proprietary curation of public databases (RNA-seq meta-analysis). Through the full-scale adoption of the Basepair platform, PtBio will streamline standard RNA-seq analysis workflows while providing customers with an environment where they can explore and reanalyze results directly in their browser using Basepair’s interactive visualization features.
For Customers: Customers can actively explore analysis results from their own computers without requiring advanced programming knowledge or high-performance computing machines. Threshold adjustment, reanalysis, and sharing results with collaborators can all be performed easily.
For PtBio: PtBio will be able to focus its resources on providing continued support in areas where the company delivers the greatest value, including biological interpretation of analysis results and recommendations for next actions.
The partnership aims to enhance both the quality and speed of collaboration between both parties while shortening lead times for research and development decision-making.
■Results of the Trial Evaluation
From September to December 2025, PtBio conducted a trial evaluation of Basepair with the cooperation of internal and external researchers. All predefined key objectives were achieved, leading to the decision for full-scale adoption (detailed figures are undisclosed).
Participant Feedback
Participants highly evaluated Basepair in terms of both usability and practical applicability. In particular, participants without in-house bioinformatics specialists positively noted their ability to independently review and utilize analysis results.
Selected Participant Comments:
“It was revolutionary to experience analyses from FASTQ files to PCA plots and volcano plots with just one click.”
“A major advantage is that analyses can be performed easily from any computer without requiring high-performance machines.”
“Analyses that would normally be cumbersome to perform by writing scripts could be completed quickly and easily.”
“Being able to adjust parameters and immediately review results in the browser greatly accelerates discussions.”
Participants also highly praised the interactive visualization functions, practical applicability, ease of data sharing, wide range of visualization options, and processing speed.
Expected Efficiency Improvements
Participants expressed expectations that applying Basepair to actual datasets would significantly reduce the time required for data review and report interpretation, and that lead times for decision-making based on experimental results could potentially be reduced by approximately half.
*The above results are based on PtBio’s trial evaluation and may vary depending on the analysis target and data scale.
■ Service Structure
Service Name: | RNA-seq Data Analysis (Basepair Integrated Version) |
Service Launch Date: | May 1, 2026 |
Billing Model: | Coupon-based system (one coupon consumed per sample) |
Sales Partner: | Iwai Chemicals Company Ltd. |
Data Management: | Managed within PtBio’s proprietary AWS account |
PtBio will continue to maintain its one-stop support system covering sample receipt, nucleic acid extraction, sequencing, analysis, report delivery, biological interpretation of analysis results, and recommendations for next actions. By combining this system with Basepair’s automation infrastructure, PtBio aims to achieve both shorter turnaround times and high-quality analysis.
■ Future Developments
Through this partnership, PtBio and Iwai Chemicals will promote the following initiatives:
Joint Customer Development:Information dissemination through seminars and exhibitions targeting research and development departments and companies without in-house bioinformatics personnel.
Validation for Non-model Organisms:Additional verification of pipeline applicability for non-model organisms, one of PtBio’s key strengths.
Publication of Case Studies:Continuous publication of implementation results based on actual projects following full-scale adoption (subject to discussion with Basepair and customers).
Feature Feedback to Basepair:Advocating improvements for the Japanese market, including Japanese-language UI support, graph explanation features, and functions for adding comments to analysis results.
■Company Information
PtBio Inc.
Address:3-10-23 Kagamiyama, Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima 739-0046, Japan
CEO:Keisuke Okuhara
Business:Support for data-driven breeding utilizing Bio-DX and genome editing
Iwai Chemicals Company Ltd.
Address:3-2-10 Nihonbashi-Honcho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0023, Japan
President:Yoshiko Iwai
Business:Import/export and sales of laboratory, chemical, and industrial reagents; import and sales of laboratory equipment; sales of pharmaceuticals, fragrances, medical equipment, miscellaneous goods, and consumables; worker dispatch services; paid employment placement services; and related businesses.
![[Japan Patent Office × Bio Venture] Welcoming an Intern through a Public-Private Exchange Program: 2026-04-23](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/71e7fe_9430b9c487c04d7181a3e1c88feb0884~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_653,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/71e7fe_9430b9c487c04d7181a3e1c88feb0884~mv2.jpg)
