Illumina Announces Certified Service Provider Program for Genetic Analysis Services

Illumina, Inc. has introduced the Illumina CSPro™ Program, a new offering under which organizations with Illumina systems can become certified in order to provide a range of genetic analysis services to the research community using Illumina technologies.

The Illumina CSPro Program offers a collaborative partnership that includes co-marketing benefits with a certification process designed to help ensure delivery of the highest-quality data available for genetic analysis applications.
Illumina has established high performance standards for each of the Company's assay technologies including GoldenGate® Genotyping, Infinium™ Whole-Genome Genotyping, Whole-Genome Expression and DASL™ Gene Expression. The Illumina CSPro Program is modular so that participants can elect to be certified for any or all of the assays.

Illumina worked closely with McGill University's Genome Quebec Innovation Center to validate processes for the Illumina CSPro Program. Thanks to their collaborative efforts, Genome Quebec was the first to complete the GoldenGate Genotyping certification process for the program.

The rigorous standards require that each Illumina CSPro maintain a staff of fully qualified experts for each Illumina-certified application and pass an annual audit to verify compliance with Illumina CSPro best practice guidelines. 

Genizon BioSciences is the first commercial organization to achieve Illumina CSPro status for GoldenGate Genotyping under the validated certification process and will soon complete certification for Infinium Whole-Genome Genotyping. Genizon's genotyping facility is among the worlds largest, leveraging an extensive Illumina systems capability with a capacity of 100 million SNP genotypes per day.

According to John Hooper, CEO of Genizon BioSciences, "The philosophy of the Illumina CSPro Program is aligned with our own corporate philosophy of high-quality data-driven science. CSPro certification assures our customers that Genizon is able to provide data which lead to the highest statistical power for their study designs."

Matt Posard, Illumina's Vice President of Marketing, stated, "We are pleased to provide this Certified Service Provider Program to organizations which, in turn, provide their customers the industry's leading data quality and service the market has come to expect from Illumina's products and technology." 

Illumina is currently certifying additional CSPro Providers in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information about the CSPro Program or to view the most recent list of Illumina certified service providers.