SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 4, 2008--Illumina, Inc.(NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced the appointment of Dr. Mostafa Ronaghias Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. As reportedduring Illumina's July 22, 2008 second quarter earnings release, Dr.Ronaghi joined Illumina following the Company's recent acquisition ofAvantome, Inc., which closed on August 1, 2008. Among his otherduties, Dr. Ronaghi will be responsible for leading the technologydevelopment effort at Illumina including the Avantome technology,which is a low-cost, long-read-length sequencing technique thatcomplements Illumina's current sequencing technologies.
Dr. Ronaghi is an experienced entrepreneur with Avantome being hisfourth life sciences start-up company. In 1997, he co-foundedPyrosequencing AB, which was later renamed to Biotage AB in 2003, andled the company to a successful initial public offering in June 2000on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. In 2001, Dr. Ronaghi co-foundedParAllele Bioscience. ParAllele, which was eventually acquired byAffymetrix, Inc., was involved in the development andcommercialization of highly multiplexed technology for genetic testingand was later acquired by Affymetrix. In 2005, Dr. Ronaghi co-foundedNextBio, a search engine for life science data.
Dr. Ronaghi earned his Ph.D. from the Royal Institute ofTechnology in Sweden and, until recently, he was associated withStanford University as a principal investigator focusing on developingnovel tools for molecular diagnostic applications. He holds more than20 pending and issued patents and has written more than 50peer-reviewed publications in journals and books. Dr. Ronaghi alsoserves on the Board of Directors of Microchip Biotechnologies,NextBio, and Aurora Biofuels.
"Mostafa's entrepreneurial background makes him an ideal additionto Illumina's culture," said Jay Flatley, Illumina's President andChief Executive Officer. "His extensive technical expertise and wealthof experience developing technologies for genetic analysis will be atremendous asset to the Company going forward."
About Dr. Ronaghi's Compensation
The Company granted an option to purchase 115,000 shares ofIllumina's common stock to Dr. Ronaghi as part of his inducement tojoin the Company. The option was granted by the Company's CompensationCommittee under Illumina's New Hire Stock and Incentive Plan, whichwas approved by Illumina's Board of Directors on January 29, 2008.This option has the following terms: an exercise price equal to theclosing fair market value of Illumina's common stock on the grantdate, a ten-year term and vesting over four years with 25 percent ofthe option vesting one year from the grant date and 1/48th of theoption vesting monthly thereafter. The grant date for this option isAugust 4, 2008.
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 Illumina's ability (i) todevelop and commercialize further our BeadArray(TM), VeraCode(R), andSolexa(R) 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 theSecurities and Exchange Commission including our recent filings onForms 10-K and 10-Q or in information disclosed in public conferencecalls, the date and time of which are released beforehand. We disclaimany intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statementsbeyond the date of this release.
CONTACT: Illumina, Inc.
Media:
Maurissa Bornstein, 858-332-4055
Public Relations Manager
mbornstein@illumina.com
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Investors:
Peter J. Fromen, 858-202-4507
Sr. Director, Investor Relations
pfromen@illumina.com
SOURCE: Illumina, Inc.