On January 10, 2012, at the 30th Annual JPMorgan Chest Medical Health Annual Conference, Life Technologies Inc. and Illumina Inc. launched the latest high-efficiency sequencer products with the brand declaration "Drawing the Human Genome Sequence within 1 Day." According to the current situation, the biggest difference between the two latest sequencers is mainly in cost and quality.

The Ion Proton Gene Sequencer PGM Sequencing Platform is the first Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM) introduced by Life Technologies in late 2010. This time, the Ion Proton sequencer launched by Life Technologies is the next generation of the PGM sequencing platform.

The Ion Proton Sequencer is a new benchtop sequencer that is about the size of an office printer and is priced at about $149,000. The Ion Proton sequencer can complete individual gene sequencing in just 1 day at a cost of only $1,000. The future of personalized medicine based on genetic data will become a reality.

The company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Greg Lucier, said that Ion Proton’s first-generation chip technology will reduce exome sequencing costs to $500, making it an ideal candidate for exome sequencing workers, and is expected to be in mid-2012. External supply; while Ion Proton's second-generation chip products are mainly used in the field of human genome sequencing, and will be available to users approximately six months later. Currently, Baylor College of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, and Broad Institute are the first users of the Ion Proton Sequencers and have signed multiple orders with Life Technologies.

The coincidence of the HiSeq 2500 Gene Sequencer was that on the same day, Life Technologies' rival Illumina also introduced the latest version of the HiSeq sequencer, which was also able to map the human genome sequence in one day, but Illumina did not disclose it. Its cost. This time, Illumina's HiSeq 2500 Gene Sequencing System integrates the advanced technologies of the HiSeq 2000 and MiSeq platforms and incorporates the latest concepts to help researchers and clinicians rank the entire gene map within 24 hours.

It is understood that Illumina's Hiseq 2500 is priced at $740,000. If you upgrade from the $690,000 HiSeq 2000, you only need to spend $50,000. At present, the HiSeq 2500 sequencer has been used by companies engaged in diagnostic services such as Genomic Health, Sequenom, and others.

At the same time, Illumina has also used the instrument internally and served externally in the first quarter of 2012. It is expected that the HiSeq 2500 will be commercialized in the second half of 2012 and shipments will begin to be made to users. From the middle of 2012, the MiSeq performance of all new and old users can be improved.