Fasteris Installs Illumina Genome Analyzer in Geneva

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Fasteris SA has announced the installation of the Illumina Genome Analyzer at its Geneva services facility. The Genome Analyzer is a next generation gene sequencing system that can generate more than one billion finished bases of high quality data in a single run.
This level of performance, which is equivalent to sequencing one third of an entire human genome in a single run, will enable work at speeds 100 times greater than with previous sequencing instruments and at a fraction of the cost.
Fasteris intends to provide next-generation sequencing services starting in June 2007, becoming one of the first commercial service providers worldwide to use the Illumina Genome Analyzer System.
“We are very excited by the outstanding performance of this instrument,” said Laurent Farinelli, founder and CEO of Fasteris, who participated in the initial development of the DNA cluster amplification technology used by the new system. “A whole new field of applications opens up that will revolutionize genomic research.”
Among the first planned applications, re-sequencing of bacterial genomes in partnership with local researchers will help resolve questions that were too difficult to tackle with previous DNA sequencing technologies. However, the wide range of expected applications includes whole genome re-sequencing, gene expression analysis, and small RNA discovery and analysis.
Prof. Joachim Frey from the University of Berne said: “We are very pleased to apply the Solexa sequencing technology to analyse bacterial genomes, helping to develop vaccines against transmissible animal diseases in order to improve and sustain animal health.”