New Open-Access Database Boasts More Than 6,000 Control Samples
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 11, 2007--Illumina, Inc.,(Nasdaq:ILMN) announced today the launch of iControlDB, the firstindustry-hosted genotyping control repository available for immediateuse by researchers conducting case-control whole-genome associationstudies. Case-control studies compare groups of patients who alreadyhave a disease (case) with a group of patients without the disease(control) to identify risk factors that may contribute to a medicalcondition. Located at www.illumina.com/iControlDB, iControlDB providesa cost-efficient and quicker way for investigators to obtain controlsamples, allowing them to focus resources on genotyping diseasesamples. Combined with the database of Genotype and Phenotype (dbGaP),the scientific community can now access nearly 10,000 control samplesthat have been donated by researchers using Illumina's technology forsingle-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping.
Peter Gregersen, M.D., is Director of the Robert S. Boas Centerfor Genomics and Human Genetics at the Feinstein Institute for MedicalResearch, and has contributed more than 2,300 samples to iControlDB.Says Gregersen, "I think it is a unique milestone to have this manycontrol samples freely available for case-control whole-genomeassociation studies. In fact, it is a major gift to the scientificcommunity, allowing many investigators to more quickly and efficientlyconduct genetic mapping of human diseases, at a substantially reducedcost."
Leading genomics institutes, including the Robert S. Boas Centerfor Genomics and Human Genetics at the Feinstein Institute for MedicalResearch and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are the first todonate, in total, more than 6,000 control samples to the database. Inaddition to controls deposited from the International HapMap Project,the database contains samples from Caucasian, African, AfricanAmerican, 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 sovia a downloadable software tool found at www.illumina.com/iControlDB. For investigators wanting to upload their control samples, they can dothis in concordance with Health Insurance Portability andAccountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines, and with valid approvaldocumentation, 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 byproviding investigators with an extensive set of control samples tovalidate their genetic studies," said Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D.,Director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospitalof Philadelphia, who supplied 4,000 control samples to the database."Having this tool available allows researchers to significantly reduceboth time and expenses in their genotyping studies. We hope this willfacilitate collaborative interactions and advance our goal of buildingscientific foundations for developing successful treatments forchildhood diseases."
All data uploaded to iControlDB are subject to Illumina's rigorousquality control process. To date, control samples uploaded to thisdatabase have an average call rate of 99.6 percent. By the end of2007, samples in iControlDB are expected to reach more than 20,000.
"We created iControlDB because we want researchers to haveimmediate access to data that would otherwise be more time-consuming,cumbersome, and costly to obtain. We estimate that this database willprovide at least a 50 percent cost savings, in addition to nearlyhalving the time necessary for processing samples," said CarstenRosenow, Ph.D., DNA Analysis Senior Marketing Manager at Illumina."The overall value for customers is that we are helping them findresults faster, without compromising data quality, speeding their wayto gene variation discovery."
About iControlDB
Genetic case-control association studies are becoming morewidespread in the scientific community. As part of an ongoinginitiative, Illumina has identified a need by the life sciencecommunity to access genotypic data from individuals that can be usedas controls in case-control association studies. It is Illumina'sintent to provide an online repository for such data accessible to thescientific community in order to further scientific progress usingthese resources, subject to appropriate terms and conditions. To learnmore 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 thenation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standingcommitment to providing exceptional patient care, training newgenerations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering majorresearch initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered manydiscoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatricresearch program is among the largest in the country, ranking third inNational Institutes of Health funding. In addition, its uniquefamily-centered care and public service programs have brought the430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children andadolescents. 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-LIJHealth System, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is home tointernational scientific leaders in Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer'sdisease, psychiatric disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, sepsis,inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, human genetics, leukemia,lymphoma, neuroimmunology, and medicinal chemistry. Feinsteininvestigators rank in the top 6th percentile of all grant awardsfunded by the National Institutes of Health. Feinstein Researchers aredeveloping new drugs and drug targets, and producing results wherescience 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 integratedsystems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function.Using our proprietary technologies, we provide a comprehensive line ofproducts and services that currently serve the sequencing, genotyping,and gene expression markets, and we expect to enter the market formolecular diagnostics. Our customers include leading genomic researchcenters, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, clinicalresearch organizations, and biotechnology companies. Our tools provideresearchers around the world with the performance, throughput, costeffectiveness, and flexibility necessary to perform the billions ofgenetic tests needed to extract valuable medical information fromadvances in genomics and proteomics. We believe this information willenable researchers to correlate genetic variation and biologicalfunction, which will enhance drug discovery and clinical research,allow diseases to be detected earlier, and permit better choices ofdrugs 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.
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
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North Shore-LIJ Health System
Terry Lynam, Vice President, Public Relations
516-465-2640
tlynam@nshs.edu
SOURCE: Illumina, Inc.