Update to the GAII -> GAIIx?

[Stegger]

Hi,
In a meeting with an Illumina sales presentative yesterday I was told that Illumina was presenting an x-version of their GAII at the 10th annual Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) meeting this last week. Supposedly, it is now able to read 150 bases do to some changes in deblocking chemistry. Anyone have some additional information on this?

[ScottC]

Hmm... not sure. They upgraded our sequencer software last week, and they announced new chemistry that does better deblocking to allow longer reads (as well as streamlined CG kits, mate pair library prep kits etc)... maybe that's it. But it's not a new sequencer version as far as I'm aware. Certainly there were no hardware changes.

[Stegger]

I think you are right that the unblocking is the central part. But they also mentioned better cooling as an important factor to obtain longer reads. The machine itself were to be called GAIIx, at least that is what they told me?

[ScottC]

Yeah, that's interesting. We've certainly had cooling issues with ours. The 'x' in our 'GAIIx' is a portable airconditioner aimed straight at the air intake on the side of the instrument! We've actually commented to them before that it would be useful if we could duct the air cooler outlet directly onto the machine's air intake.

[gonzo]

At AGBT Illumina did talk about future upgrades and the specs, but they also very pointedly stated that these were merely guidelines and Illumina even stated when discussing this specification that it should not be used for making purchasing decisions, and they are not obligated to deliver that functionality. Not sure what they meant by that.

The "x" seems to be a little step up with improved software and reagents, but to get to the bead and ePCR they discussed at AGBT appears to be a major modification or total platform change. Not sure how that will impact existing platforms or cost it will carry.

Was the "x" upgrade for a fee, or a free upgrade?

[ScottC]

the bead and ePCR they discussed at AGBT

Can you expand on that a bit more?

[Stegger]

Was the "x" upgrade for a fee, or a free upgrade?

They did not specify that and I did not ask, sorry....

[Stegger]

Press release:

http://investor.illumina.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=121127&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1252407&highlight=