SAN DIEGO–Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN – News) today announced that researchers participating in a new initiative funded by the Wellcome Trust selected Illumina’s Infinium HD BeadChips to analyze 90,000 DNA samples. This new initiative aims to decipher the molecular basis of human disease and includes participation from leading research groups around the globe. Together, researchers at the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 (WTCCC2) and 12 independent consortia will collect more than 120,000 DNA samples and analyze them for both single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and copy number variants (CNVs). This new series of genome-wide association studies are collectively the world’s largest genetic research initiative conducted to date, and is expected to uncover genetic variants linked to many diseases such as multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, and asthma. In addition to 90,000 samples collected from study participants, 6,000 control samples will be collected and analyzed using Illumina’s Infinium HD Human1M-Duo BeadChip.

“Genetic research provides valuable and often unexpected insights into complex diseases, and promises to assist with the development of new and more effective treatments,” said Professor Leena Peltonen, Head of Human Genetics at The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Deputy Chair of the WTCCC2. “By conducting a series of studies of this magnitude, and using cutting-edge technologies, we now have the means to analyze samples five times faster and on a scale larger than ever before,” continued Panos Deloukas, Ph.D., Senior Investigator and Head of Genotyping at The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

Over the next two years, researchers involved with the Wellcome Trust initiative are expected to generate as many as 120 billion pieces of genetic data. Bill Cookson, M.D., Ph.D., and his team at Imperial College London are among 12 independent groups who selected Illumina’s HD Infinium BeadChips to analyze DNA samples for genetic variants linked to complex diseases. “Last year we identified a locus strongly associated with childhood onset asthma using Illumina’s HumanHap300 BeadChip and published our results in Nature in a matter of months,” said Dr. Bill Cookson. “For the Wellcome Trust initiative, we chose to work with Illumina’s Infinium HD products because we are keen to repeat our success. By leveraging the increased density of the HD Assay, we will genotype 16,000 samples two times faster than before.”

“Our HD BeadChips feature up to 2.3 million SNPs per chip and provide researchers with significant advances, including increased sample throughput, lower input sample volume, and improvements to the Infinium assay that enhance overall system performance,” said Tristan Orpin, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at Illumina. “The decision to use Illumina’s HD DNA Analysis BeadChips to study 90,000 samples further validates that our products deliver leading performance, and are becoming the platform of choice by investigators worldwide.”

About Infinium High-Density (HD) DNA Analysis BeadChips

Illumina’s DNA Analysis solutions offer a flexible BeadChip design and high-density architecture. The revolutionary Infinium HD Assay combined with the BeadChip architecture allows for large-scale interrogation of variations in the human genome, accelerating the ability of researchers to cost-effectively unlock the genetic basis of disease. The multi-sample format of the Infinium HD BeadChips provides a significant increase in sample throughput with reduced handling in the lab. Containing both tag SNPs and high-value, proprietary CNV markers Infinium HD DNA Analysis products offer a powerful complement to Illumina’s product line, which includes Infinium II, iSelect(TM) Infinium, GoldenGate(R), and VeraCode(TM) genotyping products. For more information on Illumina’s HD DNA Analysis products, please visit www.illumina.com/dna.

About The Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the United Kingdom (UK). It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending around £650 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing. More information about The Wellcome Trust can be accessed at www.wellcome.ac.uk.

About Illumina

Illumina (www.illumina.com) is a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of 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 are Illumina’s ability (i) to integrate effectively our recent acquisition of Solexa, Inc., (ii) to develop and commercialize further our BeadArray™, VeraCode®, and Solexa® technologies and to deploy new sequencing, gene expression, and genotyping products and applications for our technology platforms, (iii) to manufacture robust microarrays and Oligator® oligonucleotides, (iv) to integrate and scale our VeraCode technology, 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.