Illumina Advances Whole-Genome Expression Analysis With Announcement of Six Human Genomes on a Single BeadChip
Wednesday January 14, 12:05 am ET
Company to Again Set New Standards for Price and Quality in Genomic Research
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 2004-- Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN - News) announced today its entry into the whole-genome gene expression market with the launch of two new Sentrix® BeadChips. These product offerings are intended to advance the field of genetic analysis by enabling high-performance, cost-effective, whole-genome expression profiling of multiple samples on a single chip. Illumina's new six-sample whole-genome BeadChip will compete with recently announced microarray products analyzing one genome on a chip.
The first BeadChip is designed to analyze six discrete whole-human-genome samples on one chip, interrogating in each sample approximately 48,000 transcripts from the estimated 30,000 genes in the human genome. The second BeadChip product analyzes eight samples in parallel against the roughly 22,000 genes represented in the consensus RefSeq database, a well-characterized whole-genome subset used broadly in genetic analysis. The new BeadChips will dramatically reduce the cost of whole-genome expression analysis, allowing researchers to expand the scale and reproducibility of large-scale biological experimentation.
"These new BeadChip offerings have the potential to fundamentally change the dynamics of the gene expression market," asserted Jay Flatley, Illumina President and CEO. "Our new BeadChips will provide scientists the ability to compare multiple samples under identical experimental conditions, thereby enhancing the data quality beyond what was previously possible. Our continued ability to innovate will result in performance and economic benefits to the whole-genome expression market similar to those we have provided to SNP genotyping customers."
The new Sentrix BeadChips leverage the extremely dense geometries pioneered in the Sentrix Array Matrix. For example, the six-sample whole-genome expression product will contain over ten million beads, or features. Each bead is coated with 50-base-long, gene-specific DNA probes. Beads are spaced six microns apart from center to center, resulting in nearly four times the density of any other microarray technology commercially available.
Illumina will provide hybridization reagents and complete sample preparation and labeling protocols for conducting whole-genome expression analysis. Following hybridization, BeadChips are imaged on Illumina's high-resolution BeadArray Reader. Illumina software provides high-level analysis of mRNA abundance, with the ability to easily export data to commercial expression programs for more intensive analysis.
"We believe our whole-genome Sentrix BeadChips will expand the frontiers of gene expression analysis," added Flatley. "Instead of a single person on a chip, researchers can now analyze expression profiles of an entire family of samples simultaneously on one microarray. The ability to probe and compare normal and diseased genes from multiple cancer patients, for example, on a single BeadChip brings us another step closer to making personalized medicine a reality."
Following final field-testing under collaborative customer agreements, Sentrix Arrays for whole-genome expression are expected to be available in mid-2004. Complementing Illumina's focused-content arrays for gene expression, the new arrays are part of an expanding set of integrated solutions -- built around a common set of core technologies -- that support gene expression and SNP genotyping applications. Illumina is committed to offering scalable system solutions, multiple array platforms and protocols, and flexible content to address a broad range of market requirements.
Illumina (www.illumina.com) is developing next-generation tools that permit large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. The Company's proprietary BeadArray(TM) technology -- now used in leading genomics centers around the world -- provides the throughput, cost effectiveness and flexibility to enable researchers in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries to perform the billions of tests necessary to extract medically valuable information from advances in genomics and proteomics. This information will help pave the way to personalized medicine. |
