9 February 2017
Illumina’s professional services team aims to enhance overall customer experience by aiding customers in the implementation of Illumina technology. To date, its services have focused on helping sequencing customers evaluate new products, set up their laboratories and IT infrastructure, and optimize bioinformatics processes. The team is excited to expand their lineup of professional services with its new Illumina ArrayLab Consulting Service.
The service aims to help labs seeking to start-up or expand an Infinium genotyping lab for large-scale genomics with new technologies like Infinium XT and the Infinium Global Screening Array. For the first time research and services labs are routinely scaling from several thousand to more than a million samples per year with added sensitivities toward costs and turnaround time. Managing this volume of samples brings new considerations to ensure robust lab processing and operational efficiencies. These considerations include advanced facilities planning, staffing and training, risk management and troubleshooting, and data management and IT infrastructure. For labs looking to implement genotyping for the first time and at scale, these considerations are often underestimated and may cause significant delays with unexpected costs before genotyping production goals are met.
“The ArrayLab Consulting Service can help laboratories that are new to high throughput genotyping accelerate production and maximize operational efficiency,” said Ron Chavez, Director, Service and Support in Illumina’s Customer Solutions Department. “The hands-on attention our experienced consultants can provide will help customers implement best practices throughout the array scanning workflow, from sample intake to data analysis.”
Customer Spotlight: Codigo46
Illumina customer Codigo46 is focused on building and managing the largest biobank in Latin America in cooperation with Mexican health authorities. We caught up with Lorenza Haddad, CEO of Codigo46, to learn more about how they are using the Global Screening Array and how the ArrayLab Consulting Service helped them scale their laboratory.
How are you using the Global Screening Array?
We are building a biobank and performing population screening work that combines phenotypic information with genotypes. We hope that this information can one day be used to advance personalized medicine in Latin America.
Had you used arrays before you adopted the Global Screening Array?
No, the content and pricing available with the Global Screening Array is what enabled us to initiate this project.
How will your work benefit human health of populations in Mexico/elsewhere in Latin America?
Populations in Mexico and Latin America are understudied and genomic information is often compared with European populations. Through our work, we are building out reference information for Mexican and Latin American populations, and giving health care institutions and officials tools to start developing preventive care measures and personalized medicine programs, based on genetics.
How has the ArrayLab consulting service been useful?
The ArrayLab consulting service has been a truly amazing tool to build the laboratory we need for the throughput and scale of our projects. It has been indispensable for the planning of the lab space, equipment, and logistics. Setting up a high throughput genotyping laboratory in Mexico has been a challenge, but the consulting service team has been there to answer questions and act as a liaison between Codigo46 and Illumina. It was crucial in helping us get the lab up and running in a matter of months and solving normal starting issues as they have arisen.
