PYROSEQUENCING ARRAYS

Illumina, Inc., San Diego CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project is designed to test the feasibility of combining two new and well-proven technologies to create a novel platform for nucleic acid sequence analysis. The two complementary technologies are pyrosequencing and assembled arrays of beads on optical fiber bundles. The combined technology promises to yield quantum improvements in cost and throughput of a variety of very useful genetic analyses. The technology is intrinsically scaleable, and is highly amenable to miniaturization and automation. It is expected to have applications in many areas of medical and biological research, including genetic polymorphism typing, expressed sequence tag analysis, molecular diagnostics, and re- sequencing. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Genetic sequence analysis has broad and fundamental application in biological and medical sciences. It is an important tool for gene and polymorphism discovery, drug target identification, molecular disease diagnosis and management of patient treatment. Potential customers include pharmaceutical companies, genomics companies, research analytical suppliers, research laboratories, providers of screening services (e.g. clinical diagnostic labs), and point-of-care patient monitoring services (e.g. hospitals).