Illumina Inc., based in San Diego, California, has established a new Solutions Center to expand its genomics operations in Bengaluru, India.
"Expanding Illumina's presence in India allows the company to collaborate and be part of a vibrant biotech ecosystem with skilled labor, strong research and development resources, and supportive government policies," Gretchen Weightman, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Illumina said. "In our 25th anniversary year, it's a very exciting time to be growing our physical presence in India to drive access and the further adoption of genomics to transform human health, particularly in oncology and infectious disease."
The expansion is confirmed 16 years after the company initiated a collaboration with the company's channel partner in India, Premas Life Sciences. The permanent facility will be used by Illumina and Premas to expand the genomics market in India.
“Expanding access to genomics in this important market will help unlock opportunities for advancing health care and combating the effects of climate change in South Asia,” the press release states.
The company has also contributed to various efforts to increase access to sequencing capability in India, such as those by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation to support COVID-19 surveillance.
Illumina counts on the support of 30 people in India, in sales, operations, marketing, government relations, and human resources, and hopes to bring additional help onboard to further leverage its operations, which will be led by Abhishek Gupta, Country Manager, India, Illumina.
"Abhishek brings vast knowledge and experience to Illumina India, and we look forward to supporting him and the team as they collaborate with and support our customers," Weightman said. “She also emphasized the opportunity the new Solutions Center presents to pursue equitable access and more diverse data: "Democratizing genomics and making it available to the many and not just the few will take a collaborative approach. We must better reflect diversity in genomic data and drive awareness for, access to, and adoption of genomic technologies, through partnership."
The new establishment features a fully equipped laboratory, NGS and array technologies, and field applications and service engineers trained to help Illumina's partners and customers with broad genomics capabilities. Weightman also highlighted the new solutions center’s ability to pursue equitable access and more diverse data.
"Democratizing genomics and making it available to the many and not just the few will take a collaborative approach. We must better reflect diversity in genomic data and drive awareness for, access to, and adoption of genomic technologies through partnership."