Illumina: 2014 will be a big year for genomics
The genome sequencing field is undoubtedly dominated by Illumina, and now they have two new sequencing platforms to offer ( link ). The HiSeq X Ten is aimed at large sequencing centres and Illumina claims that it can sequence genomes for $1000. Very similar to the Hiseq2500 in most regards, it doesn't offer Rapid Run mode (2 lanes) but has 4x faster run times in High Capacity mode (8 lanes). Only catch is the price, at USD$10M for a minimum order of 10 instruments, this isn't for labs without huge resources. The other instrument released was the NextSeq500 (info here ). It runs a 4 lane flow cell capable of generating 400M reads. NextSeq is aimed at labs which do RNA-Seq and similar protocols but can't afford the price tag of their big brother HiSeq machines. Given the history of Illuminas platforms, I'd expect the NextSeq to undergo further incremental increases in output as the platform matures. Priced at about $250,000 it is placed in between the MiSeq and the Hi...