Illumina Unveils Industry's Most Comprehensive Whole-Genome DNA Analysis Solution

Human 1M and Human 450S BeadChips Provide Unmatched Access to Common Genetic Variations

SAN DIEGO--Illumina, Inc. today announced that the next BeadChip in its Infinium® product family will profile over one million diverse genetic variants. The new Human 1M BeadChip combines an unprecedented level of content for both whole-genome (WG) and copy number variation (CNV) analysis, along with additional unique, high-value genomic regions of interest - all on a single microarray chip. Illumina also announced that it plans to introduce the Human 450S BeadChip, which will enable customers using Illumina's HumanHap550 BeadChip, to further extend their genetic studies to include the one million content level. The Human 1M and Human 450S BeadChips will be powered by Illumina's revolutionary Infinium Assay, providing industry-leading data quality, genomic coverage, and intelligent probe selection. Both products are expected to enter the market by the close of the second quarter, 2007.

"The Human 1M BeadChip represents the dawn of a new era for the genetic research community. It combines even higher tagSNP coverage than our HumanHap650Y BeadChip, adds several hundred thousand, individually-selected SNPs in genes and functional areas, and provides novel content for copy number variant analysis not currently available in public databases," said Sarah Shaw Murray, Ph.D., staff geneticist at Illumina. "As a complete DNA analysis solution that addresses applications beyond just traditional whole-genome association studies, this BeadChip will set the new standard as being the most comprehensive and most powerful tool available for genetic analysis."

"With Illumina's unique ability to target any specific regions in the genome, we continue to be impressed by the level of coverage, performance, and speed the Infinium technology offers the industry. We are pleased to have collaborated with Illumina's research and development team on content selection for the Human 1M and Human 450S BeadChips. This capability enables us to speed the discovery of the underlying causes of disease," said Jeffrey Gulcher, Chief Scientific Officer of deCode Genetics.

The Human 1M and Human 450S BeadChips will provide high density coverage in greater than 99 percent of known genes. The BeadChips will utilize SNP and non-SNP content to provide uniform spacing for the analysis of both known and novel copy number variants. The new BeadChips will also include additional tagSNPs selected from all populations studied by the International HapMap Project. In addition to an unprecedented level of content for both WG and CNV analyses, the Human 1M and Human 450S BeadChips will offer the same level of performance customers have experienced with all of Illumina's DNA analysis products, including the industry's highest call rates and overall data quality.

"During 2006 Illumina launched eight new products in the Infinium family. The upcoming commercialization of the Human 1M, a single-chip solution, will be a major milestone for the Company. It will more importantly provide the genetic research community with yet another advance in their ability to perform whole-genome DNA analysis," said Jay Flatley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Illumina.

Infinium Genotyping utilizes a novel assay together with Illumina's BeadArray(TM) technology to deliver industry-leading performance, genome-wide access and scalable solutions for SNP genotyping and the analysis of CNV. The revolutionary Infinium Assays and corresponding BeadChips allow large-scale interrogation of variation in the human genome, accelerating the ability of researchers to cost-effectively unlock the genetic basis of disease.

This is big time action here from a strictly research point of view. In my opinion from doing this very type of research, this will revolutionize the field. I am very excited to see how this develops.

NASDAQ:ILMN closed todays trading down 17 cents a share at 39.32.