Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR) to Use Illumina Whole-Genome Genotyping Solutions to Support Study for Finland-United States Type 2 Diabetes Collaboration.

SAN DIEGO -- Data from Illumina BeadChips and Infinium(TM) Assay Reagents Will Help Identify Genetic Variants that Predispose Individuals to Type 2 Diabetes 

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) announced today that it is partnering with the Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR) to use the Sentrix(R) HumanHap300 BeadChip and Infinium(TM) Assay for a pilot study of Type 2 Diabetes. One goal of this study is to evaluate the Illumina technology for possible adoption as the standard platform for CIDR's genome-wide association service to be offered to the scientific community in the spring of 2006.

CIDR is working with Illumina to genotype over 2500 case-control samples provided by the Finland-United States Investigation of NIDDM Genetics (FUSION) Study, an international research collaboration. Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the goal of the FUSION team is to map and identify genetic variants that predispose individuals to Type 2 diabetes (formerly non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, or NIDDM).

As part of its technology evaluation efforts, CIDR will use the Sentrix HumanHap300 BeadChip to query over 317,000 tagSNPs on a single microarray device. The new BeadChip is powered by Illumina's Infinium Assay, which enables the intelligent selection and analysis of virtually any SNP in the genome. The high statistical value of the SNP loci in the HumanHap300 enables researchers to achieve the most comprehensive genomic coverage of any array on the market. The HumanHap300 delivers industry-leading data quality, with call rates exceeding 99%, and reproducibility and Mendelian accuracy both greater than 99.9%.

According to David Valle, M.D., Director, CIDR and Professor, Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, "CIDR is committed to serving the genetics research community by providing the most powerful technology in its genotyping service laboratory. This pilot study gives us an opportunity to investigate and evaluate a promising genotyping platform that takes advantage of HapMap DNA markers that were designed to maximize our ability to identify associations between diseases and particular DNA variants. We chose Type 2 diabetes for this evaluation effort because of the wealth of existing genetic data about the disease and the strength of the statistical and analytical expertise of the investigators involved in the FUSION project. We are looking forward to working with Illumina and the diabetes team to bring this pilot project to a successful and rapid conclusion."

Commenting further on the study, Jay Flatley, Illumina CEO and President, stated, "The identification of tagSNPs in the HapMap Project has laid the groundwork for a follow-on stream of large-scale disease association studies. We're excited to see significant genotyping data being generated using our new HumanHap300 BeadChip, as the content of this chip was developed collaboratively with key HapMap participants. We're eager to work with the CIDR and FUSION teams on the Type 2 diabetes study."

Type 2 diabetes is a common, yet complex disease characterized by inadequate insulin production and resistance of body tissues to insulin, resulting in elevated levels of blood sugar and increased risk of damage to the eyes, heart, blood vessels, nervous system and kidneys. Type 2 diabetes is widespread and growing; its frequency varies considerably among ethnic groups and among sexes and increases with age. For example, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes among European Americans aged 75 years is over 16% for men compared to roughly 12% for women. It is estimated that yearly diabetes-related medical expenditures in the U.S. alone are approaching $150 billion.

The FUSION project is led by Principal Investigator Michael Boehnke, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. Dr. Boehnke and his colleagues foresee multiple research phases, beginning with genome-wide genotyping to identify candidate genes that may be associated with Type 2 diabetes predisposition. The design of subsequent phases -- partly dependent on Phase 1 data analysis and findings -- will include increasingly "granular" approaches for analyzing disease-related haplotypes and then identifying SNP variants that exhibit statistical correlation to the disease. This information will help identify at-risk individuals and point the way to new drug targets and therapies and strategies for disease prevention.

About CIDR

The Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR) is a centralized services facility supported through a federally funded contract to Johns Hopkins University. CIDR provides genotyping and statistical genetics services for investigators seeking to identify genes that contribute to human disease. CIDR concentrates its efforts on the study and understanding of multifactorial hereditary diseases. Its extensive facilities include unlimited access to Johns Hopkins' high-throughput Illumina BeadLab for production-scale genotyping studies. CIDR is available to all investigators through competitive peer review.

About Illumina

Illumina (www.illumina.com) develops and markets next-generation tools for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. The Company's proprietary BeadArray technology -- used in leading genomics centers around the world -- provides the throughput, cost effectiveness and flexibility necessary to enable researchers in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries to perform the billions of tests necessary to extract medically valuable information from advances in genomics and proteomics. This information will help pave the way to personalized medicine by correlating genetic variation and gene function with particular disease states, enhancing drug discovery, allowing diseases to be detected earlier and more specifically, and permitting 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 the costs and outcome of Illumina's litigation with Affymetrix, the Company's ability to scale and integrate CyVera technology, the ability to further scale oligo synthesis output and technology to satisfy market demand deriving from the Company's collaboration with Invitrogen, Illumina's ability to further develop and commercialize its BeadArray technologies and to deploy new gene expression and genotyping products and applications for its platform technology, to manufacture robust Sentrix(R) arrays -- including HumanHap BeadChips -- and Oligator(R) oligonucleotides, and other factors detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its 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. Illumina disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements beyond the date of this release.