Illumina and Agilent are highlighting the benefits of their combined solution at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) meeting this week in Denver, Colorado. The new research protocol enables scientists to interrogate multiple regions of interest in order to detect rare mutations, such as those commonly found in cancer, while taking advantage of low sample input requirements. Targeted resequencing also enables scientists to sequence areas identified through genome-wide association studies in addition to sequencing candidate genes and candidate regions.
Chad Nusbaum, Co-director of the Genome Sequencing and Analysis program at MIT’s Broad Institute, described the hybrid selection technique utilized by Agilent’s SureSelect technology in the February 2009 issue of Nature Biotechnology. “We have developed a hybrid-selection method for enriching specific subsets of a genome that is flexible, scalable, and efficient. Targeting based on hybrid selection may be potentially useful for a variety of applications where traditional single-plex PCR is either too costly or too specific. Examples are enrichment of precious ancient DNA that is heavily contaminated with unwanted DNA, deep sequencing of viral populations in clinical samples, or metagenomics analyses of environmental or medical specimens.”
“A partnership with Agilent underscores our commitment to build upon the utility of our next-generation sequencing technology, helping researchers plan and execute studies at a scale never before possible,” said Jay Flatley, President and CEO of Illumina. “We continue to expand our portfolio of solutions with powerful tools for studying genetic variation. This solution provides the research community with a cost-effective, automation-friendly, and flexible approach to targeted resequencing for a wide variety of applications.”
“The Agilent SureSelect Target Enrichment System requires only standard equipment already in the next-generation sequencing workflow,” said Nick Roelofs, Ph.D., Agilent’s Vice President and General Manager, Life Science Solutions Unit. “The SureSelect platform draws upon Agilent’s distinctive ability to accurately and reliably custom-manufacture oligos greater than 100 base pairs, resulting in highly specific capture of genome variance. When combined with Illumina’s Genome Analyzer, researchers can design their own experiments and take advantage of Illumina’s long reads to achieve timely, reproducible results while reducing cost and increasing robustness. The SureSelect System enables scientists to easily and efficiently design custom content through eArray probe design and incorporate automation for scalability and cost efficiencies.”
For more information about the new targeted resequencing solution please visit http://www.illumina.com/resequencing or http://www.opengenomics.com/SureSelect.
About Illumina’s Genome Analyzer
Designed for facilities of all sizes, the Illumina Genome Analyzer has been adopted across genome centers worldwide, as well as 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, most user-friendly workflow. The Genome Analyzer supports the broadest set of applications, including those used to profile and discover novel transcripts, to create high-resolution genome-wide maps 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 Agilent’s SureSelect Target Enrichment System
The SureSelect Target Enrichment System is a unique tool for greatly streamlining next generation sequencing research by enabling scientists to sequence only genomic areas of interest. When sequencing only a particular segment of the genome, the Agilent SureSelect platform can be used to capture a subset of exons or other genome targets and wash away the rest of the genome. SureSelect replaces other labor-intensive methods of targeted re-sequencing such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques that are a major bottleneck in most next-generation sequencing workflows.
About Agilent
Agilent Technologies Inc. (www.agilent.com) is the world's premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company's 19,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $5.8 billion in fiscal 2008. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.
About Illumina
Illumina (www.illumina.com) is a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of innovative, next-generation life-science tools and integrated systems for the large-scale 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 Illumina's ability (i) to integrate effectively our recent acquisition of Solexa, Inc., (ii) to develop and commercialize further our BeadArray(TM), VeraCode(TM) and Solexa(R) technologies and to deploy new gene expression and genotyping 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 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 Contacts: Media: Maurissa Bornstein Public Relations Manager 858-332-4055 mbornstein@illumina.com or Investor: Peter J. Fromen Sr. Director, Investor Relations 858-202-4507 pfromen@illumina.com or Agilent Contact: Stuart Matlow 408-553-7191 stuart_matlow@agilent.com
