Illumina sells chip system to Erasmus Medical Center

California, USA-based life science systems developer Illumina says that the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has purchased its Infinium HD Human610-Quad BeadChips system. Illumina said that the technology, which includes a third scanning unit, will be used to support the center's ongoing Generation R study that is focusing on the identification of environmental and genetic risk factors that can cause developmental abnormalities.

Andre Uitterlinden of the department of Internal Medicines at the Erasmus Center explained that high sample throughput is critical to Generation R's success. Dr Uitterlinden went on to say that, "when Illumina launched their HumanHap550 BeadChip last year, we used this product...to study10,000 individuals for the development of several age-related diseases in the Rotterdam Study," adding that conversion to the Human610-Quad BeadChips system would further increase sample throughput. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.