GeneSeek Becomes Illumina's First Certified Service Provider to Use Infinium DNA Analysis BeadChips for Agriculture Research

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced that GeneSeek Inc., a leading provider of genotyping services for agribusiness, is the first organization focusing on this key research community to become an Illumina CSPro® (certified service provider). Illumina CSPro is a collaborative service provider partnership dedicated to ensuring delivery of the highest-quality data available for genetic analysis applications. Using Illumina’s Infinium® products, including the iSelect™ BovineSNP50, CanineSNP20, and EquineSNP50 BeadChips, GeneSeek offers its customers access to large-scale interrogation of plant and animal genomes. "We are excited to add Illumina's Infinium solutions to our diverse and powerful service offerings, and to be the first Illumina CSPro that focuses on livestock and companion animal research," said Abraham Oommen, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of GeneSeek, Inc. "This certification underscores GeneSeek’s commitment to providing our customers with comprehensive DNA analysis options. We will soon complete certification for Illumina’s GoldenGate genotyping as well, which will enable GeneSeek to provide a cost-effective way to rapidly apply discoveries from the Infinium products across very large populations of agriculture species.” "Interest in the Illumina CSPro program continues to grow with more than 20 academic and commercial technology providers already certified or in the process of certification. With GeneSeek as a partner, we are making it easier for the agricultural community to access high-quality genetic analysis solutions for their research,” said Karen Possemato, Director of Corporate Marketing at Illumina. Illumina CSPro participants undergo a rigorous two-phase certification process that includes minimum data generation, data certification, and an on-site audit of the facility and processes. To find out more about Illumina’s CSPro program, please visit www.illumina.com/cspro. About GeneSeek Established in 1998 with headquarters in Lincoln, NE and facilities in the UK and India, GeneSeek, Inc. is a privately held, global biotechnology company dedicated to providing quality DNA-based diagnostic and discovery products and services. GeneSeek is committed to being an innovative and dynamic company serving the agribusiness, food safety, and pharmaceutical markets. GeneSeek's high throughput genotyping capabilities range from one SNP to a million SNPs per sample and are relevant to gene discovery, diagnostic testing, marker assisted selection and identity management across many species. About Illumina Illumina (www.illumina.com) is a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of next-generation life-science tools and integrated systems for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and biological function. Using our proprietary technologies, we provide a comprehensive line of products and services that currently serve the sequencing, genotyping, and gene expression markets, and we expect to enter the market for molecular diagnostics. Our customers include leading genomic research centers, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, clinical research organizations, and biotechnology companies. Our tools provide researchers around the world with the performance, throughput, cost effectiveness, and flexibility necessary to perform the billions of genetic tests needed to extract valuable medical information from advances in genomics and proteomics. We believe this information will enable researchers to correlate genetic variation and biological function, which will enhance drug discovery and clinical research, allow diseases to be detected earlier, and permit better choices of drugs for individual patients. "Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: this release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements are Illumina’s ability (i) to integrate effectively our recent acquisition of Solexa, Inc., (ii) to develop and commercialize further our BeadArray™, VeraCode®, and Solexa® technologies and to deploy new sequencing, gene expression, and genotyping products and applications for our technology platforms, (iii) to manufacture robust microarrays and Oligator® oligonucleotides, (iv) to integrate and scale our VeraCode technology, together with other factors detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including our recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q or in information disclosed in public conference calls, the date and time of which are released beforehand. We disclaim any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements beyond the date of this release.