New Disease-Focused Product Will Leverage Illumina's Multi-Sample iSelect(TM) Infinium(R) Custom Genotyping BeadChip to Test More Than 120,000 Samples
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2007--Illumina, Inc.(NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced a large-scale collaboration with theInstitute of Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) at theUniversity of Pennsylvania (Penn), the Broad Institute, and theNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) Candidate-geneAssociation REsource (CARe) Consortium to develop a customized chipfor vascular disease. Called the IBC (ITMAT, Broad, CARe) chip, thisarray will be developed to analyze more than 55,000 single-nucleotidepolymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate genes selected for cardiovascularand other associated phenotypes. Employing Illumina's iSelect CustomGenotyping BeadChip, researchers will assess the genetic diversitywithin pathways of approximately 2,100 genes believed to underpinprimary and secondary vascular disease processes, such as bloodpressure, myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, insulinresistance, metabolic disorders, dyslipidemia (changes in lipid levelsin the blood), and inflammation. At the study's completion, more than120,000 samples from large population studies and clinical trials willbe analyzed for genetic links to vascular disease.
Vascular disease refers to any condition that affects thecirculatory system. This ranges from diseases of the arteries, veins,and lymph vessels to blood disorders that affect circulation. It isthe leading cause of death and disability in the United States, Japan,and Europe, and a rapidly increasing cause of death and disabilityelsewhere in the world.
The content for the custom array was chosen based on publishedscientific literature, cardiovascular disease (CVD) pathway analysis,and recent whole-genome analysis data sets. Some of the cohorts to beinterrogated using the 55,000+ SNPs include nine NHLBI epidemiologiccohorts that compose the CARe study, the Diabetes Reduction Assessmentwith Ramipril and Rosiglitazone Medication trial (DREAM), EpiDREAM (anobservational sub-study of DREAM), the Chronic Renal InsufficiencyCohort (CRIC), and a University of Pennsylvania consortium of CVDstudies that includes PennCATH.
"Our team opted to work with Illumina's iSelect Custom Genotypingarray because the technology has proven to be extremely flexible andprovides us with highly-robust data, making it an optimal platform fora study of this magnitude," said Garret FitzGerald, M.D., McNeilProfessor of Translational Medicine and Therapeutics and Director ofITMAT.
The collaboration, led by the University of Pennsylvania, theBroad Institute and the CARe Consortium is the first majorcardiovascular initiative to use the iSelect Infinium CustomGenotyping array. iSelect custom panels enable researchers to focus onspecific disease-related or pathway-related SNPs. The multi-sampleBeadChip format increases throughput and shortens sample processingtime. iSelect Infinium Custom Genotyping offers the same benefits asstandard Infinium products, including the ability to access SNPsacross the entire genome, industry-leading data quality,reproducibility, and call rates greater than 99 percent.
"With Illumina's assistance, we worked together to build acomprehensive, focused vascular disease panel. This panel will allowus to quickly genotype thousands of patients across thousands of genesto identify genetic risk factors underlying vascular diseases andother complex genetic traits," said Joel Hirschhorn, M.D., Ph.D,Associate Member, and Coordinator of Metabolism Initiative at theBroad Institute. "The ability to choose any SNP we desire gives usgreat confidence that we will develop an accurate and high-qualitypanel."
To select SNPs in candidate genes, the group's approach was tofind the union of tagging SNPs from the four HapMap populations andSeattleSNPs resequencing data. According to Sonia Anand, M.D., Ph.D,FRCPc, McMaster University Professor and Co-Principal Investigator ofthe EpiDREAM, "This provides robust coverage for diverse populations,which is very important for our study as it assesses genetic diversityin 22,500 individuals from 21 different countries."
"The University of Pennsylvania's interest in customizing thisgenotyping panel to tackle vascular-disease research underscores thecreative ways the research community is working with Illumina tounravel the complexities of human disease," said Jay Flatley,President and Chief Executive Officer of Illumina. "Our whole-genomegenotyping technology continues to raise industry standards bydelivering unparalleled data quality, format and content flexibility,and cost-effectiveness. This is helping researchers acceleratediscoveries that will help us better understand, cure, and ultimatelyprevent disease."
About the CARe
The NHLBI of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiated theCARe in April 2006 with a contract to the Broad Institute to serve asthe genotyping and bioinformatics center for this project. CARe'sobjective is to create a shared genotype/phenotype resource foranalyses of the association of genotypes with phenotypes relevant tothe mission of NHLBI. The resource comprises nine cohort studiesfunded by NHLBI: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC),Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), Cleveland Family Study (CFS),Coronary Artery Disease in Young Adults (CARDIA), Cooperative Study ofSickle Cell Disease (CSSCD), Framingham Heart Study (FHS), JacksonHeart Study (JHS), Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), andthe Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS). When completed, access to theCARe database will be provided to the broad scientific community forapproved research purposes. Additional information about the CARe canbe found at: http://www.broad.mit.edu/gen_analysis/care/index.php/Main_Page.
About Illumina
Illumina (www.illumina.com) is a leading developer, manufacturer,and marketer of next-generation life-science tools and integratedsystems for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation andbiological function. Using our proprietary technologies, we provide acomprehensive line of products and services that currently serve thesequencing, genotyping, and gene expression markets, and we expect toenter the market for molecular diagnostics. Our customers includeleading genomic research centers, pharmaceutical companies, academicinstitutions, clinical research organizations, and biotechnologycompanies. Our tools provide researchers around the world with theperformance, throughput, cost effectiveness, and flexibility necessaryto perform the billions of genetic tests needed to extract valuablemedical information from advances in genomics and proteomics. Webelieve this information will enable researchers to correlate geneticvariation and biological function, which will enhance drug discoveryand clinical research, allow diseases to be detected earlier, andpermit better choices of drugs for individual patients.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities LitigationReform Act of 1995: this release may contain forward-lookingstatements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the importantfactors that could cause actual results to differ materially fromthose in any forward-looking statements are the costs and outcome ofIllumina's litigation with Affymetrix and our ability (i) to integrateeffectively our recent acquisition of Solexa, Inc., (ii) to developand commercialize further our BeadArray(TM), VeraCode(TM) andSolexa(R) technologies and to deploy new gene expression andgenotyping products and applications for our technology platforms,(iii) to manufacture robust micro arrays and Oligator(R)oligonucleotides, (iv) to integrate and scale our VeraCode technology,(v) to scale further oligo synthesis output and technology to satisfymarket demand derived from our collaboration with Invitrogen, togetherwith other factors detailed in our filings with the Securities andExchange Commission including our recent filings on Forms 10-K and10-Q or in information disclosed in public conference calls, the dateand time of which are released beforehand. We disclaim any intent orobligation to update these forward-looking statements beyond the dateof this release.
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SOURCE: Illumina, Inc.