Illumina Expands Presence in India with New Solutions Centre to Drive Genomics Advancements

The new Illumina Solutions Center houses laboratory facilities with the latest NGS and array technologies. The centre, fully supported by field applications and service engineers, aims to bolster Illumina's partners and customers with extensive genomics capabilities. 

Illumina Inc., a U.S.-based company specialising in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, has announced the opening of a new office along with an advanced Illumina Solutions Centre in Bengaluru, India.

This expansion by Illumina follows 16 years of close collaboration with its Indian channel partner, Premas Life Sciences. With the establishment of its permanent facility, Illumina will continue to work in conjunction with Premas to develop the genomics market in India further.

Enhancing genomics accessibility in this influential market is expected to open doors for advancements in healthcare and efforts to mitigate climate change effects in South Asia.

Gretchen Weightman, senior vice president of Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, highlighted the advantageous environment for collaboration, citing a skilled workforce, robust research and development resources, and supportive governmental policies available in the country.

Over seven years, Illumina has supported TB surveillance in India through the FIND Seq&Treat project. This endeavour aims to promote the utilisation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) for affordable, scalable, and rapid TB drug-susceptibility testing.

In the drive for enhanced sequencing accessibility in India, Illumina has collaborated with organisations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, channelling philanthropic funding toward COVID-19 surveillance efforts.

With a current workforce of over 30 individuals encompassing roles in sales, operations, marketing, government relations, and human resources, Illumina's presence in India is set to expand further. Abhishek Gupta leads the Indian business as the country manager.

The new Illumina Solutions Centre houses laboratory facilities with the latest NGS and array technologies. The centre, fully supported by field applications and service engineers, aims to bolster Illumina's partners and customers with extensive genomics capabilities.

This centre is expected to facilitate training and education to enhance local technical proficiency and genomics access for the company's growing network of regional channel partners.

Recently, Illumina Inc. and GenoScreen collaboratively introduced a package merging Illumina products and GenoScreen's Deeplex Myc-TB assay. This targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) test detects anti-TB drug resistance swiftly, aligned with WHO's goal to end the global TB epidemic by 2035.

The partnership aims to enhance MDR-TB detection, particularly in high-impact countries like India.