Recovery Funding Creates New Market for Long-Read Genome Sequencing Services
A new tender for Oxford Nanopore whole genome sequencing services shows how recovery funds and public buyers are accelerating long-read genomics in Europe.
A new tender for Oxford Nanopore whole genome sequencing services shows how recovery funds and public buyers are accelerating long-read genomics in Europe.
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A Bulgarian medical university is moving to buy long-read whole genome sequencing using Oxford Nanopore technology for recovery-funded research, highlighting how public money is driving adoption of advanced genomics services across Europe.
On 9th December 2025, Medical University – Sofia (Meditsinski universitet – Sofia) published a contract notice for Whole Genome Sequencing Services. The university plans to contract out whole genome sequencing with long reads using Oxford Nanopore technology for a series of research projects financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The notice is brief but precise. It specifies long-read whole genome sequencing, tied to Oxford Nanopore platforms, rather than shorter-read or targeted approaches. The work will underpin “various research projects” at the university, making this a shared resource rather than a single-study contract.
By linking the procurement directly to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the university is tapping post-crisis investment to expand its genomic research capacity. Instead of procuring instruments, it is turning to external providers for high-end sequencing outputs, reflecting a broader shift towards service-based models in public-sector genomics.
The Sofia tender sits within a wave of public-sector investment in long-read sequencing. In June 2025, Genomics England Limited signalled its ambitions with a prior information notice for its Long Read Sequencing Initiative. Working with the NHS, it plans a national research study in newborns to test how whole genome sequencing can be woven into newborn screening and used to diagnose and treat rare genetic conditions.
Elsewhere in Europe, neonatal genomics is also gaining ground. On 30th June 2025, the Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal in Madrid launched a contract notice for the supply of massive sequencing reagents to support genetic studies of neonates using whole genome sequencing technology at Ramón y Cajal University Hospital.
Hospital laboratories are investing in their own long-read platforms. In October 2025, the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nîmes published a tender to acquire and install a long-read next-generation sequencing system for molecular genetics, including maintenance and consumables. In July 2025, Charles University’s Faculty of Science in Prague sought an NGS sequencer for long DNA segments, specifying that it should enable full-length sequencing of specific genes, resequencing of genomes and collection of data on epigenetic changes.
Vendors linked to Oxford Nanopore are prominent in this landscape. The Berlin Institute of Health at Charité issued a September 2025 tender for flow cells and sequencing chemistry from Oxford Nanopore Technologies, while the French blood service, Etablissement français du sang, went to market in October 2025 for reagents and interpretation software to perform high-resolution HLA typing using both Miseq and Nanopore sequencing techniques.
The Sofia procurement adds another use case: not national screening or routine diagnostics, but university-led research made possible by recovery-plan money and specialist long-read services.
The Medical University – Sofia is not alone in upgrading its genomic toolkit. In December 2025, a medical university in Plovdiv issued a contract notice for sequencing services procurement. That tender seeks next-generation sequencing for complete exome and targeted sequencing of genomic and tumour DNA to support cancer diagnosis and treatment, pointing to a clear translational focus.
In July 2025, Medical University – Varna (Meditsinski universitet – Varna) launched a competition for a software system for automatic karyotyping to support its scientific research, including installation, testing and staff training. And on 8th December 2025, the University “Professor Dr Asen Zlatarov” in Burgas sought a supplier for the delivery, installation, commissioning and training of laboratory equipment for its Centre for Excellence in e-Society.
Together, these notices suggest that Bulgarian universities are assembling a layered genomics and laboratory infrastructure: from cytogenetic analysis and basic lab capacity through to exome and targeted sequencing, and now long-read whole genome sequencing services in Sofia.
Neighbouring countries are moving in parallel. The University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Grigore T. Popa” in Iași published a September 2025 tender for an integrated NGS long-read sequencing system with automated library preparation, including a 24-month warranty and maintenance. In November 2025, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hațieganu” in Cluj-Napoca went to market for spatial transcriptomic analysis and long-read sequencing equipment to study the immuno-inflammatory axis in rare non-medullary thyroid cancer.
In Poland, the Oncology Centre of the Lublin region, Centrum Onkologii Ziemi Lubelskiej im. św. Jana z Dukli, used a July 2025 tender to request a next-generation sequencing system and associated devices for its Clinical Genetics Centre, aiming to enhance specialised diagnostics and treatment for oncological patients.
These projects underline how long-read and high-throughput sequencing are becoming standard components of academic medicine and cancer research across Central and Eastern Europe, not just in long-established Western European centres.
The Sofia tender is firmly on the services side of the market. It mirrors the approach seen at the Microbiology Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, which in July 2025 sought massively parallel sequencing services covering DNA and RNA, including sample preparation, quality control and data analysis over a 24-month period. INRAE, the French national research institute, followed a similar path in September 2025 with a consultation for genomic DNA and RNA sequencing services to analyse genomes, methylation and gene expression, with secure data delivery.
By contrast, many public buyers are still investing in instruments and long-term reagent contracts. Liège University Hospital signalled in August 2025 that it plans to acquire a Genexus instrument and associated reagents to speed up NGS library preparation and sequencing and cut turnaround times for patient results. ASST Spedali Civili di Brescia in Italy went further in October 2025, launching a large-scale procurement of NGS analytical systems, sequencers, reagents and bioinformatics software for genomic profiling and molecular characterisation in oncology and hereditary diseases.
Software and platform-specific licensing are another piece of the puzzle. In November 2025, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ljubljana published a tender for the rental of licensed software for a GridlON system used in DNA and RNA sequencing, while Charles University and the Berlin Institute of Health are specifying equipment and consumables tied directly to Oxford Nanopore technology.
The Medical University – Sofia notice continues this trend of platform-specific procurement. By calling explicitly for long-read whole genome sequencing using Oxford Nanopore technology, it signals a preference for the data characteristics and workflows associated with that ecosystem. For potential suppliers, that narrows the field to providers able to deliver services on that platform and to align with the university’s recovery-funded project timelines.
Once awarded, the Whole Genome Sequencing Services contract should give Medical University – Sofia access to long-read whole genome data for multiple research projects backed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The scale, throughput and scientific focus of those projects are not detailed in the notice, but the procurement alone marks a step change in the university’s access to advanced sequencing.
For the wider market, the tender is another sign that long-read technologies, and Oxford Nanopore in particular, are moving into routine use across Europe’s public health and research systems – from newborn screening pilots in England to oncology diagnostics in Italy and Central and Eastern Europe. Future recovery-funded calls and equipment tenders in Bulgaria and neighbouring countries will show whether this shift consolidates into a stable, long-read-capable genomics network across the region.
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