Next-generation sequencing has become remarkably powerful but in many ways, it is still designed for a world of centralized laboratories and tightly controlled environments. Despite advances in instrumentation and chemistry, most NGS workflows remain tightly coupled to specialist infrastructure and unforgiving logistics.
There are early signs that this may be starting to change. Portable sequencing platforms, such as those introduced by Oxford Nanopore Technologies, are beginning to challenge the assumption that NGS must always live in a central lab [1,2]. That thought and process shift matters, but instrumentation is only part of the story. The broader workflow, especially how reagents are shipped, stored and handled, remains a major constraint.
For assay developers and their customers, those logistics will ultimately determine whether decentralized NGS workflows are viable in the real world.
Most NGS workflows were designed with well-equipped laboratories in mind. Cold-chain shipping, refrigerated storage and careful reagent handling are still treated as standard requirements – even though they limit where NGS can realistically be used.
In centralized labs, these constraints are manageable, but they come at a cost. Cold-chain logistics, freezer infrastructure and energy-intensive storage add operational overhead and are increasingly difficult to justify as organizations focus on cost control and sustainability.
Downstream, much of this burden is passed on to customers, who absorb shipping costs and must manage storage, inventory and day-to-day handling. Even as sequencing platforms become smaller and enable more portable NGS workflows, the chemistry around them often remains infrastructure dependent.
If the future includes field-deployable sequencing, point-of-care sequencing, and other low-infrastructure sequencing environments, then reagent stability becomes more than a convenience – it becomes foundational.
Reagent handling: an underestimated constraint
Enzymatic fragmentation is now the most widely used approach for DNA shearing in NGS library preparation. It is reliable, well understood and embedded in most modern workflows. What is discussed less often is how operationally complex these workflows become once they leave the assay developer’s bench. A single NGS workflow may involve consumables that need to be kept deeply frozen (-80°C), frozen (-20°C), refrigerated (2-8°C) or at ambient temperatures (15-25°C) – sometimes all within the same assay.
Managing multiple storage conditions becomes part of the operational overhead, alongside the less visible challenges of freeze–thaw cycles, handling variability and long-term reagent consistency. None of this is unusual in NGS, but it means workflow complexity is often driven as much by logistics as by assay design.
For assay developers thinking about workflow robustness, operational scalability and workflow standardization, these constraints can slow adoption outside highly controlled laboratory environments.
What changes when library prep doesn’t need refrigeration?
Now imagine starting from a different place.
- What if enzymatic fragmentation and library preparation reagents could be shipped and stored at ambient temperature?
- What if workflows were less sensitive to transport delays, storage constraints or variations in handling?
- What if cold-chain-free reagents were the default rather than the exception?
Lyophilized reagents make this possible. By removing the need for refrigeration while maintaining enzymatic performance, lyophilized enzymatic fragmentation kits – especially when paired with lyophilizable library prep workflows – begin to ease the practical constraints that limit where NGS can operate.
This shift toward cold-chain-free reagents is not just a logistical improvement. It directly supports more resilient, decentralized NGS workflows and expands the feasibility of field-deployable sequencing and point-of-care sequencing models.
In practical terms, it enhances workflow robustness in environments where freezer infrastructure is limited or inconsistent – enabling low-infrastructure sequencing without sacrificing performance.
Moving closer to point-of-need NGS
NGS isn’t field-friendly today. But the direction of opportunity is clear. As sequencing platforms evolve, workflow design needs to evolve alongside them. Reagent stability, often treated as secondary, may ultimately determine how far and how widely NGS can move beyond the central lab.
Lyophilized enzymatic fragmentation and library preparation reagents represent one practical step toward closing the gap between what NGS can do and where it can realistically be used [3,4].
Perhaps the more useful question going forward is not just how powerful NGS can become –
but how accessible do we want it to be – and what needs to change to get there?
At Meridian, we focus on the parts of the workflow that quietly determine whether NGS can travel, scale and perform reliably in the real world.
References:
1. Oxford Nanopore Technologies. (2017). One step closer to abolishing the cold chain: Lyophilized kits for field-based sequencing. Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
2. Chen, P., et al. (2023). Portable nanopore-sequencing technology: Trends in research and development from lab tools to commercially viable systems. PMC.
3. Meridian Bioscience. (2026). Meridian Life Science expands ambient-stable NGS portfolio with the launch of a lyophilized enzymatic DNA fragmentation kit.
Press release.
4. Meridian Bioscience. (2024). Meridian Bioscience unveils industry-first lyophilized library prep kit for next-generation sequencing, eliminating the need for cold-chain shipping and storage.
Press release.
