Illumina tools to be used in largest ever study into ALS causes

US genetic analysis specialist Illumina says that investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School will utilize data from its Sentrix HumanHap300 BeadChips and Infinium assay reagents to perform a 2,200-sample case/control whole-genome association study of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS is a rapidly progressing disorder that attacks motor neurons of the brain and spinal cord. The fatal condition affects over 1.5 million patients worldwide and there is no cure.

According to Illumina each HumanHap300 BeadChip offers broad genomic coverage and queries over 315,000 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms with high per-marker statistical value. One of the study's chief supervisors, Adrian Ivinson, asserts that this will be the largest genetic study to date of ALS. He noted that it will hopefully provide significant insight into the genetic cause of the disease and is expected to lead to improved diagnosis, earlier intervention, as well as more effective treatment.