Illumina Unveils the First Industry-Hosted Controls Database for Genetic Research
Monday June 11, 6:00 am ET
New Open-Access Database Boasts More Than 6,000 Control Samples
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Illumina, Inc., (Nasdaq:ILMN - News) announced today the launch of iControlDB, the first industry-hosted genotyping control repository available for immediate use by researchers conducting case-control whole-genome association studies. Case-control studies compare groups of patients who already have a disease (case) with a group of patients without the disease (control) to identify risk factors that may contribute to a medical condition. Located at www.illumina.com/iControlDB, iControlDB provides a cost-efficient and quicker way for investigators to obtain control samples, allowing them to focus resources on genotyping disease samples. Combined with the database of Genotype and Phenotype (dbGaP), the scientific community can now access nearly 10,000 control samples that have been donated by researchers using Illumina's technology for single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping.
Peter Gregersen, M.D., is Director of the Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, and has contributed more than 2,300 samples to iControlDB. Says Gregersen, "I think it is a unique milestone to have this many control samples freely available for case-control whole-genome association studies. In fact, it is a major gift to the scientific community, allowing many investigators to more quickly and efficiently conduct genetic mapping of human diseases, at a substantially reduced cost."
Leading genomics institutes, including the Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are the first to donate, in total, more than 6,000 control samples to the database. In addition to controls deposited from the International HapMap Project, the database contains samples from Caucasian, African, African American, African-American Mixed Descent, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Hispanic-Mixed Descent, Indian, and Vietnamese populations.
Researchers interested in obtaining data from iControlDB can do so via a downloadable software tool found at www.illumina.com/iControlDB. For investigators wanting to upload their control samples, they can do this in concordance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines, and with valid approval documentation, such as an institutional review board (IRB) approval, using Illumina's BeadStudio Data Analysis Software, version 3.1.
"This database will benefit the research community at large by providing investigators with an extensive set of control samples to validate their genetic studies," said Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who supplied 4,000 control samples to the database. "Having this tool available allows researchers to significantly reduce both time and expenses in their genotyping studies. We hope this will facilitate collaborative interactions and advance our goal of building scientific foundations for developing successful treatments for childhood diseases."
All data uploaded to iControlDB are subject to Illumina's rigorous quality control process. To date, control samples uploaded to this database have an average call rate of 99.6 percent. By the end of 2007, samples in iControlDB are expected to reach more than 20,000.
"We created iControlDB because we want researchers to have immediate access to data that would otherwise be more time-consuming, cumbersome, and costly to obtain. We estimate that this database will provide at least a 50 percent cost savings, in addition to nearly halving the time necessary for processing samples," said Carsten Rosenow, Ph.D., DNA Analysis Senior Marketing Manager at Illumina. "The overall value for customers is that we are helping them find results faster, without compromising data quality, speeding their way to gene variation discovery."
About iControlDB
Genetic case-control association studies are becoming more widespread in the scientific community. As part of an ongoing initiative, Illumina has identified a need by the life science community to access genotypic data from individuals that can be used as controls in case-control association studies. It is Illumina's intent to provide an online repository for such data accessible to the scientific community in order to further scientific progress using these resources, subject to appropriate terms and conditions. To learn more about the program, please visit www.illumina.com/iControlDB.
About The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country, ranking third in National Institutes of Health funding. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, please visit www.chop.edu.
About the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
Headquartered in Manhasset, NY, and part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is home to international scientific leaders in Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, psychiatric disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, human genetics, leukemia, lymphoma, neuroimmunology, and medicinal chemistry. Feinstein investigators rank in the top 6th percentile of all grant awards funded by the National Institutes of Health. Feinstein Researchers are developing new drugs and drug targets, and producing results where science meets the patient. For more information, please visit www.FeinsteinInstitute.org.
About Illumina
Illumina (www.illumina.com) is a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of next-generation life science tools and integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function. Using our proprietary technologies, we provide a comprehensive line of products and services that currently serve the sequencing, genotyping, and gene expression markets, and we expect to enter the market for molecular diagnostics. Our customers include leading genomic research centers, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, clinical research organizations, and biotechnology companies. Our tools provide researchers around the world with the performance, throughput, cost effectiveness, and flexibility necessary to perform the billions of genetic tests needed to extract valuable medical information from advances in genomics and proteomics. We believe this information will enable researchers to correlate genetic variation and biological function, which will enhance drug discovery and clinical research, allow diseases to be detected earlier, and permit better choices of drugs for individual patients.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: this release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements are the costs and outcome of Illumina's litigation with Affymetrix and our ability (i) to integrate effectively our recent acquisition of Solexa, Inc., (ii) to develop and commercialize further our BeadArray(TM), VeraCode(TM) and Solexa® technologies and to deploy new gene expression and genotyping products and applications for our technology platforms, (iii) to manufacture robust micro arrays and Oligator® oligonucleotides, (iv) to integrate and scale our VeraCode technology, (v) to scale further oligo synthesis output and technology to satisfy market demand derived from our collaboration with Invitrogen, together with other factors detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including our recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q or in information disclosed in public conference calls, the date and time of which are released beforehand. We disclaim any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements beyond the date of this release.
Contact:
Illumina, Inc.
Maurissa Bornstein, Public Relations Manager
858-332-4055
mbornstein@illumina.com
Peter J. Fromen, Sr. Director, Investor Relations
858-202-4507
pfromen@illumina.com
or
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
John Ascenzi, Medical/Science Writer, 264-426-6055
ascenzi@email.chop.edu
or
North Shore-LIJ Health System
Terry Lynam, Vice President, Public Relations
516-465-2640
tlynam@nshs.edu
Source: Illumina, Inc. |
