Lighting up arrays

Illumina Inc. is using the same fiber optic technology that underlies the telecommunications industry to develop genomic and drug discovery arrays that it believes are smaller and more versatile than competing technologies, while at the same time allowing for higher throughput and cost advantages. The company is initially using the technology for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping and plans to extend its applications to RNA and protein profiling and small molecule high throughput screening.

Illumina CEO John Stuelpnagel initially became interested in array technology while working at the CW Group, a venture firm. "I found the array field fascinating, but wanted it to be smaller and more general than just oligonucleotide arrays," he said. He met David Walt, a researcher at Tufts University who was working on randomly ordered bead arrays, and the two began Illumina in 1998...