The new Human1M BeadChip DNA analysis tool ploughs through more than one million genetic mutations, or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), on a single BeadChip allowing disease related mutations to be detected more efficiently.
By allowing researchers to study more SNPs at a time, Illumina believes it now provides the most powerful DNA analysis tool on the market which could reduce study costs by up to 50 per cent.
In addition, the new microarrays contain unique copy number variation (CNV) probes developed in conjunction deCODE genetics to allow researchers to study the number of copies of particular genes in an individuals genotype.
The new chips will be launched into a market that Dr Steven Bodovitz , of consulting company Bioperspectives, has estimated to be worth around $800m (€595m).
The sector is currently undergoing reasonable growth as diagnostic applications for microarrays get closer. Indeed, Roche Diagnostics recently acquired microarray company NimbleGen for $272m to strengthen its position in the genomics field.
There is substantial evidence to show that the copy number of certain genes can be elevated in cancer cells compared with undiseased cells and Illumina has tried to increase the efficiency of such DNA analysis experiments.
"With the Human1M BeadChip, we believe we have delivered to the community the most powerful DNA Analysis tool to address any complex disease study with unmatched performance and total experiment cost," said Jay Flatley, President CEO of Illumina.
Illumina's BeadChips are built in a different way to other microarrays with specific oligonucleotide probes being anchored to 3µm silica beads.
To make a gene expression BeadChip thousands of these beads bearing different probes are made and then self-assembled into microwells etched into the BeadChip surface.
This leads to a high level of redundancy with each bead represented about thirty times leading to higher quality data as the results of any microarray experiments are based on the average of many independent results.
"The combination of the high call rates we consistently deliver across the Infinium product line and the recently launched controls database, iControlDB, will help to accelerate researchers' time-to-result and cut study costs by up to 50 per cent," said Dr Carsten Rosenow, senior marketing manager for DNA Analysis at Illumina.
