The Genome Center at Washington University Scales-Up on Illumina Sequencers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) announced today that it has reached an agreement in principle for the Genome Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to acquire 21 genome analyzers over the next several months to support the Center’s expanding research initiatives. Once the scale-up is complete, the Center will have an installed base of 35 Genome Analyzers. The added capacity, along with the continued improvements to the Genome Analyzer platform, will allow the Genome Center to sequence in the order of one human genome per day at 25x coverage.

“We are confident that we can further reduce the cost and accelerate the rate of human genome sequencing.”

“Our intention to substantially scale-up with this technology reflects our commitment to large-scale sequencing projects that aim to uncover the underlying genetic basis of various human diseases. With the rapid decline in the cost of whole-genome sequencing, we believe now is the time to embark on initiatives which were previously not possible,” said Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., Professor of Genetics and Director of the Genome Center at Washington University. “We are confident that we can further reduce the cost and accelerate the rate of human genome sequencing.”

The Genome Center at Washington University is a world leader in genomics research. The Center played a leadership role in The Human Genome Project and currently is a leading participant in both The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project and The 1000 Genomes Project. Central to the Center’s charter is to advance the state of the art in genome sequencing and its application to human health.

“We are delighted that the Genome Center intends to exclusively scale-up on the Genome Analyzer, establishing the capability to sequence hundreds of human genomes rapidly and cost effectively. Their commitment to the Genome Analyzer validates the scalability and utility of the platform as well as Illumina’s ability to deliver the leading technology in sequencing,” said Christian Henry, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Illumina.

About the Illumina Genome Analyzer

Designed for facilities of all sizes, the Illumina Genome Analyzer has been adopted across genome centers worldwide, plus individual research labs, core and service facilities, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The Genome Analyzer offers the highest rate of daily output and the simplest and most user-friendly workflow. The Genome Analyzer also offers the broadest set of supported applications, including those used to profile and discover novel transcripts, to create a high-resolution genome-wide map of DNA-protein binding sites and to sequence entire human genomes to greater than 30x coverage.

For more information about the Genome Analyzer and to read what customers are doing with Illumina's sequencing technology, please visit http://www.illumina.com/sequencing.

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 Illumina's ability (i) to develop and commercialize further our BeadArray™, VeraCode®, and Solexa® technologies and to deploy new sequencing, gene expression, and genotyping products and applications for our technology platforms, (ii) to manufacture robust instrumentation and reagents technology, 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.