Illumina Invests in New Sequencing Technology
Illumina CEO Jay Flatley commented in the company’s quarterly conference call that the technology will target a different market than the company’s current Genome Analyzer does, specifically, the market served by Sanger sequencing, such as applied testing. In 2004, Dr. Ronaghi received a four-year National Institutes of Health grant to develop an inexpensive sequencing technology based on miniaturized pyrosequencing using an “integrated fluidic and CMOS imaging platform.”
San Diego, CA 7/22/08—Illumina has acquired Avantome, the developer of a long read-length sequencing technology, for $25 million in cash and contingent payments of up to $35 million. Avantome’s principal founders Mostafa Ronaghi and Helmy Eltoukhy will join Illumina. Dr. Ronaghi will serve as senior vice president and chief technical officer and Dr. Eltoukhy will serve as director of Avantome Sequencing Development. The transaction is expected to close within a few weeks. Dr. Ronaghi is the inventor of pyrosequencing technology and cofounded Pyrosequencing AB and ParAllele BioScience.
