Illumina Partners with 4 Biobanks to Genotype Their Collections
Illumina has signed agreements with Vanderbilt University, University of Colorado at Anschutz Medical Campus, Partners HealthCare, and Montreal Heart Institute to genotype their sample collections. Illumina’s technology will initially analyze 200000 samples and combine the obtained genomic data with clinical records to identify the genetic causes of several diseases.
Illumina’s sequencing technology, Infinium® Expanded Multi-Ethnic Genotyping Array and Infinium HumanMethylation 450K Array will be used to understand the genetic factors that contribute to complex disorders like heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, bipolar disorder, and Crohn’s disease. The partnership will contribute to advance in the knowledge of the human genome and to improve public health.
Vanderbilt University will use Illumina’s MEGA EX genotyping array and DNA sequencing to examine 100000 samples from the BioVU biobank. They expect to obtain useful information about genetic variation links with genetic expression and disease.
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and UCHealth will genotype 30000 samples with Illumina’s MEGA EX chip and epigenotype 2000 samples in the DNA Methylation EPIC chip. After analyzing the results of this pilot study, the biobank will collect hundreds of thousands of samples from patients and analyze them over the next years.
Partners HealthCare Biobank is already analyzing 25000 samples using Illumina’s RNA sequencing, DNA Methylation array and MEGA Array technologies.
Montreal Heart Institute plans to use Illumina’s MEGA array to genotype 50000 samples and identify what genetic makeup responds better to cardiometabolic disease drugs.
The multiple agreements represent a great advance in the establishment of personalized medicine thanks to next generation sequencing and comprehensive genomics.
Source: Illumina