Illumina Partners with Nanopore Sequencing Firm
Under the agreement, Oxford Nanopore will develop and manufacture the technology for Illumina. Illumina noted that the technology’s advantages over current sequencing technology include lower cost, higher speed, greater simplicity and increased versatility. The technology will be array chip-based, allowing for parallel sequencing. Neither Illumina nor Oxford Nanopore have disclosed a time line for the technology’s commercialization. Oxford Nanopore was established in 2005.
San Diego, CA and Oxford, UK 1/11/09—Illumina and Oxford Nanopore Technologies announced a strategic alliance to develop and sell single-molecule DNA sequencing technology. Under a commercialization agreement, Illumina will exclusively market, sell, distribute and service Oxford Nanopore’s BASE Technology products into the research and diagnostic markets. The companies will share profits from the sales. Illumina has also made an $18.0 million equity investment in Oxford Nanopore to accelerate technology development and will make additional investments based on specific technical milestones. “Oxford Nanopore’s technology holds tremendous promise to achieve the sub-$1,000 human genome,” said Illumina President and CEO Jay Flatley. “Making electrical measurements of unmodified DNA removes the need for complex sample prep and the high-performance optics found in today’s sequencing systems.” BASE (Bayley Sequencing) technology uses protein nanopores coupled with a processing enzyme to enable direct electrical identification of DNA bases without the need for fluorescent labels, optical imaging and instruments, or DNA amplification.
