Illumina announces acquisition of Epicentre Biotechnologies

Illumina, Inc. today announced that it has acquired Epicentre Biotechnologies, a leading provider of nucleic acid sample preparation reagents and specialty enzymes used in sequencing and microarray applications. A key component of the acquisition is direct access to Epicentre's proprietary Nextera™ technology for next-generation sequencing library preparation, which greatly simplifies genetic analysis workflows and reduces time from sample preparation to answer.

“As next-generation sequencing continues to improve in throughput and cost, there's a critical need for sample prep to evolve as well, to lower costs, handle higher sample volumes and reduce both hands-on and overall processing time”

"As next-generation sequencing continues to improve in throughput and cost, there's a critical need for sample prep to evolve as well, to lower costs, handle higher sample volumes and reduce both hands-on and overall processing time," said Jay Flatley, President and CEO of Illumina. "Epicentre's Nextera technology provides a step-change improvement in library prep that will translate into greater ease of use, lower costs, and faster turnaround times for sequencing applications. In addition to Nextera, Epicentre is a leading supplier of specialty enzymes and kits that are beneficial to Illumina's technologies."

The rapid adoption of Nextera sequencing sample prep kits by existing Illumina sequencing customers is indicative of the cost effectiveness, ease of use, and efficiency of Nextera technology. With this patented technology, researchers can prepare sequencer-ready libraries from genomic DNA with less than 15 minutes of hands-on time - a significant timesaving compared to alternate methods. In addition, Nextera technology requires 10-100 times less starting DNA, which enables applications with limited starting material such as tumor biopsies, degraded DNA, or purified RNA. These unique features of Nextera sequencing library prep kits are all critical to advancing the evolution of next-generation sequencing.

The combined company will be uniquely positioned to offer an end-to-end solution for next-generation sequencing, microarray, and real time PCR applications. Epicentre's unique capabilities in enzyme engineering and sample preparation reagent development will complement Illumina's core platform expertise to comprehensively address the needs of researchers across their entire genetic analysis workflow.