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Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Molecular Biology Core Facilities Integrate n6 iconPCR into Low-Input cfDNA Sequencing Service

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Integrated workflow reduced library-yield variability, enabled mixed-input processing, and supported reliable 0.5% allele-frequency detection from 1 ng in reference-standard testing

PLEASANTON, Calif., Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — n6 Tec, Inc. (n6), developer of iconPCR™ systems with AutoNorm adaptive amplification, today announced that the Molecular Biology Core Facilities (MBCF) at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have integrated the n6 icon96™ system into their targeted cell-free DNA (cfDNA) sequencing service for liquid biopsy research.

Library-yield variability fell from 54% to 8% with n6 iconPCR in Dana-Farber’s cfDNA workflow

The MBCF workflow combines dual-UMI library preparation, sample-specific amplification on icon96, hybrid capture, and duplex sequencing. In reference-standard testing, the workflow supported reliable detection of variants down to 0.5% allele frequency from as little as 1 ng of cfDNA—approximately 300 genome equivalents—while accommodating variable sample inputs in the same run without manual rebalancing.

“Our investigators bring us precious samples where every molecule counts. With icon96, we can see the amplification path of every sample and stop each reaction where it should stop, so low-input cfDNA libraries come out uniform and ready for capture,” said Zach Herbert, Director, Molecular Biology Core Facilities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Low-input cfDNA sequencing is inherently molecule-limited, with rare tumor-derived variants often sitting below 1% allele frequency. When heterogeneous libraries receive the same fixed-cycle PCR program, low-input samples can under-amplify below the yield required for capture, while higher-input samples over-amplify—creating excessive duplicates, uneven library yields, and extra quantification, dilution, and normalization steps before samples can be pooled.

The icon96 system addresses this upstream variability by providing independent thermal control and real-time amplification monitoring across each of its 96 wells. With AutoNorm, each reaction stops when it reaches a defined sample-specific endpoint, allowing libraries with different inputs and amplification behavior to be processed together. Amplification, quantification, and normalization occur simultaneously within the same run.

In an n6 application note and a SelectScience webinar, Dana-Farber MBCF reported:

More consistent library yields: The coefficient of variation in library yield across 10 ng samples fell from 54% with fixed-cycle amplification to 8% with AutoNorm, and was 30% at 1 ng. The 1 ng and 10 ng samples were processed together in the same run.High on-target capture: After icon96 was added to the workflow, on-target rates exceeded 90% and remained consistent across four sample sets evaluated at 1 ng and 10 ng inputs.Reliable variant detection from 1 ng: Using Twist reference standards, all spiked variants were reliably detected down to 0.5% allele frequency at both 1 ng and 10 ng inputs, with mean target coverage above 200× at 1 ng.Processing of variable patient-derived samples: Patient-derived cfDNA samples spanning approximately 2 ng to 25 ng were normalized within a single run, and all generated sufficient library to proceed to hybrid capture.

The MBCF cfDNA service pairs the IDT xGen™ cfDNA & FFPE DNA Library Preparation Kit and dual-UMI duplex sequencing with amplification on icon96, hybrid capture, and sequencing on an Illumina NovaSeq™ X Plus.

“In liquid biopsy research, there is very little margin for preventable sample loss or degraded data quality,” said Pranav Patel, CEO and co-founder of n6. “When every molecule matters, the workflow should adapt to each sample rather than force an entire batch through the same rigid process. Dana-Farber’s work shows how treating every sample individually protects the underlying biological signal while actually simplifying operations—the exact problem we built iconPCR to solve.”

To learn more about iconPCR and AutoNorm, visit n6tec.com. For low-input and degraded sample applications, including cfDNA, visit n6tec.com/low-input-degraded-samples. To learn more about the Dana-Farber MBCF cfDNA service, visit mbcf.dana-farber.org/cfdna.

About n6

n6 develops intelligent sample-preparation systems for next-generation sequencing. Powered by iconPCR™ technology and AutoNorm software, the icon16 and icon96 platforms help genomics laboratories generate more consistent sequencing-ready libraries from variable and challenging samples while reducing manual quantification and normalization.

n6 systems are used by research institutions, clinical research laboratories, biopharma companies, and sequencing organizations worldwide across oncology, genomics, metagenomics, and multi-omics applications. n6 is headquartered in Pleasanton, California and is certified to ISO 13485:2016. For more information, visit n6tec.com.

n6 products are for research use only and not for use in diagnostic procedures. iconPCR and icon96 are trademarks of n6 Tec, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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SOURCE n6 Tec, Inc.

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uSMART Securities Singapore Marks Third Branch Opening in Bugis with Lion Dance and K-pop

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SINGAPORE, Nov. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — uSMART Securities Singapore officially opened its third branch at 516 North Bridge Road, #01-00, Singapore 188740 expanding its physical presence in Singapore with a new uSMART Investor Hub. The opening was marked by a private ceremony featuring a speech, a traditional lion dance and a K-pop dance performance, bringing together the uSMART team, esteemed guests and partners.

The Bugis opening marks another milestone in uSMART’s expansion in Singapore, following the launch of its first local branch at Robinson Road in July 2025 and its Somerset branch in October that year. The new branch reflects the company’s approach of combining digital trading with face-to-face support, offering clients an additional location to make enquiries, receive assistance with account opening and engage directly with the team.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Eng Thiam Choon (TC Eng), Chief Operating Officer of uSMART, highlighted the importance of maintaining physical branches alongside digital brokerage services. Clients may appreciate the opportunity to discuss opening their first investment account, gain a better understanding of products available on the app or receive assistance with any issues.

“Customers should have a choice in how they deal with us. If they’re comfortable doing everything on the app, that’s fine. If they’d prefer to come in and talk, we want to make that possible too,” said Mr Eng.

Drawing on its experience operating branches in Hong Kong, uSMART has tailored this approach to the Singapore market through ongoing engagement and conversations with local clients.

Mr Eng also highlighted the importance of understanding different trading rules, currency exposure and diversification as investors explore more markets. Seminars and conversations with the branch team will support these learning opportunities, equipping clients with the knowledge and information they need to make informed investment decisions.

“You don’t need to come with a decision already made. You can come with a question,” said Mr Eng.

Beyond the opening celebrations, Mr Eng highlighted the importance of consistent client service through attentive listening, clear communication and following through on commitments.

About uSMART Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Established in March 2021, uSMART Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. is the Singapore entity of uSMART Group, which holds a Capital Markets Services licence issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) (Licence No. CMS101161).

Through the uSMART platform, the company provides access to stocks across global markets, as well as ETFs, options, futures, funds, Contracts for Difference (CFDs) and forex products. Its services include digital trading tools and client account support.

In addition to its digital trading platform, uSMART offers structured investment solutions, including Fixed Coupon Notes (FCNs), catering to investors with different investment objectives and risk preferences. Through its growing network of physical branches, the company also provides face-to-face assistance, investor education and account support, complementing its digital services.

Branch Address

uSMART Securities – Bugis Branch
516 North Bridge Road, #01-00
Singapore 188740

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SOURCE uSMART Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

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Chinese Team Drops a “Game-Changer”: Motphys Launches MotrixSim 1.0, Sparking Industry Buzz

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BEIJING, Nov. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — If the global expansion of Chinese-made robots defined the hardware boom in the first half of the embodied AI race, the second half will be won by those that can bring down the high cost of real-world trial and error and make robot training more universal and accessible. In this underlying physics engine race long dominated by Western players, a Chinese team is now bringing a potential game-changer to the field.

Recently, Chinese company Motphys was invited to attend CoRL 2026, where it showcased its fully in-house embodied intelligence simulation engine—MotrixSim 1.0. In extreme benchmark tests against leading international physics engines, MotrixSim 1.0 demonstrates extraordinary capabilities: overwhelming established open-source engines in the contact and grasping test and vastly surpassing mainstream GPU-accelerated simulation platforms in training efficiency.

In the past, simulation was primarily used for error-proof verification at the end of the design phase. But in the era of embodied AI, AI requires massive amounts of interaction experience.

“Simulation once served to validate how machines perform. Now, it is where they learn how to perform,” said Zhang Heng, co-founder and CTO of Motphys. Simulation has evolved from a “post-design validation tool” into a “physical experience production system”. To power this system, Motphys builds its physics engine entirely in-house, developing the core from the ground up in Rust rather than building on existing open-source engines. This equips MotrixSim 1.0 with strong memory safety and computation power, enabling it to compete with established international players at the underlying architecture level.

True technical strength is proven in extreme tests.

In a “devil-level” disturbance-rejection grasping test where a Franka arm grasps objects of different shapes, MotrixSim 1.0 is the only engine to achieve a 100% pass rate at both 2 ms and 10 ms simulation step sizes. In the microscopic critical friction point test, MotrixSim exhibits hold-and-slip behavior near the critical friction consistent with Coulomb’s law, achieving 0mm slip distance.

In terms of compute and training efficiency. Through its unique pipeline supporting CPU/GPU parallel computation, MotrixSim can achieve a physics simulation throughput of millions of physics steps per second across 4,096 parallel environments. In a controlled comparison conducted on the G1 whole-body tracking task, under the same task environment configuration and the same RL algorithm, MotrixSim reaches the current tracking score in about 10.2 minutes of end-to-end time, while the Isaac Sim-based solution takes 130.8 minutes—a gap of about 12.8×.

Furthermore, for the Strandbeest complex closed-loop mechanism with 92 linkages, when traditional engines fail to maintain the stability of the mechanism at a large time step of 5ms, MotrixSim solves closed-loop constraints together with the multibody dynamics in generalized coordinates, so the mechanism maintains its assembly relationships during motion.

Beyond extreme physical conditions and compute, MotrixSim 1.0 has achieved breakthroughs in multimodal perception and developer experience: LiDAR simulation throughput reaches 124 million rays per second; visual synthesis maintains stable throughput even when resolution surges 16 times. In terms of developer experience and industrial deployment, MotrixSim 1.0 streamlines development with high-speed solving in a single line of code (98.42% success rate) and a “zero-conversion + AI auto-modeling” workflow. Forge is also launched as the industry’s first Blender-based extension tool, enabling AI Agents to automatically generate physics scenes.

Zhang Heng emphasized that the core proposition of Physical AI is to transform expensive and slow “real-world physical experience” into digital learning resources that can be generated at scale.

Motphys’s relevant research has been accepted to top international conferences such as RSS and CoRL, and the company has built a simulation and real-robot training center for embodied AI in China. Currently, the world’s leading physics engines primarily include Google’s MuJoCo and NVIDIA’s Isaac Sim.

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SOURCE Motphys

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HiTHIUM Partners with the University of Cambridge to Advance International Industry-Academia Collaboration in Long-Duration Energy Storage

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XIAMEN, China, Nov. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On November 12, the Global Energy Storage Colloquium was held in Xiamen. During the colloquium, HiTHIUM and the University of Cambridge signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), establishing a strategic partnership. The two parties will collaborate on frontier scientific research, key technology innovation and industrial applications in battery energy storage, bringing academic research into closer alignment with industry needs and exploring new models for international industry-academia collaboration. The partnership aims to contribute to the advancement of global energy storage technology and the industry.

The UK has a strong track record in the development of modern battery technologies and fundamental research. The University of Cambridge is one of the world’s leading universities, with internationally recognized expertise in engineering, materials science and fundamental research. As a leading global energy storage technology company, HiTHIUM has long focused on energy storage technology development and commercialization. It continues to advance integrated research and innovation across the value chain, from high-capacity energy storage cells to long-duration energy storage systems and grid integration technologies.

The collaboration is intended to bring internationally leading academic research into closer engagement with innovation across China’s energy storage industry. The University of Cambridge’s strengths in fundamental science, materials research and engineering will offer new perspectives and approaches to key scientific questions and emerging technologies in energy storage. HiTHIUM will bring its experience in long-duration energy storage (LDES), product development and large-scale deployment, connecting research with real industry needs and application scenarios, and supporting the engineering validation and commercialization of research outcomes. By drawing on the strengths of both research and industry, the partnership will strengthen the links between frontier innovation and practical applications.

Under the cooperation plan, the two parties will establish joint management and research collaboration mechanisms, bringing together academic resources and corporate R&D capabilities. They will work together to plan research projects, facilitate scientific exchange and support the translation of research outcomes, strengthening connections between fundamental research, technology development and industrial applications so that innovation in energy storage can better serve industry needs.

The partnership also marks an important step in HiTHIUM’s efforts to expand its international innovation network. Building on this collaboration with the University of Cambridge, HiTHIUM will further strengthen academic exchanges and research partnerships with leading universities and research institutions around the world. By bringing together international research resources and talent, the company aims to encourage collaboration across disciplines and technology fields, explore the development of technologies such as LDES from a global perspective, and bring technical challenges and application needs from the front lines of industry into research and innovation. This will help research and industrial practice reinforce one another.

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SOURCE HiTHIUM

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