In May 2006 Illumina signed a deal to help DeCode Genetics find genes for common diseases.
Rothberg's creation is still on the market but has been crushed by machines from rival Illumina.
Illumina, long the industry leader, has seen its shares drop 20% over the past year.
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Jay Flatley has overseen tremendous growth at life science tools company Illumina in the past decade.
On January 10, Life Technologies and Illumina both announced plans for faster, same-day DNA sequencers.
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Two of them are Life Technologies Corp. (nasdaq: LIFE) and Illumina, Inc. (nasdaq: ILMN).
To do so, it uses the DNA sequencing machines made by Illumina and other companies.
By any measure of cost or sequencing power, that puts the PGM orders of magnitude behind Illumina.
Illumina, Applied Biosystems and Helicos Biosciences are among the other players making or developing next-generation gene sequencers.
Of course, MiSeq will still have the advantage of the huge ecosystem of Illumina-compatible kits and protocols.
As a result, large banks of computers sit next to most of the sequencers that Illumina sells.
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Just as so many startups have done, Illumina is relying on Amazon for the cloud computing infrastructure.
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Numerous companies inlcuding Illumina and Life Technologies sell gene decoding machines that are getting faster and cheaper all the time.
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Some other new technology company that nobody has heard of could do a number on Illumina in a few years.
To be sure, there are other diagnostics makers like Life Technologies and Illumina, that have been hot growth stocks.
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But the fact is that right now, most of the excitement is coming from cheaper approaches established by Illumina and others.
Illumina rival Life Technologies is betting heavily on a smaller, less expensive to buy machine that might be good for smaller projects.
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The good news is that Illumina has been very aggressive about moving into new technologies and has stayed ahead of the curve.
But SNP-counting was a new market, and Illumina Chief Executive Jay T.
Illumina has captured about 70% of the market for genetic sequencing machines.
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Illumina, located further south in San Diego, hopes to have a commercial version of the optical nose ready about a year later.
In an August Forbes blog post, science writer Matthew Herper reminds us that Illumina is still the dominant force in DNA sequencing.
But then Illumina came up with new technology and ripped away much of the gene chip market, before moving on to dominate sequencing.
Another interesting note: at the AGBT meeting in Florida (also known as Marco Island), neither Illumina nor Life will be the top-paying sponsor.
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If the cost does drop, the market "verges on being insatiable, " says Jay Flatley, chief executive of Illumina, the leading maker of DNA sequencers.
Investors are betting that, given the headway being made in DNA sequencing, it is undervalued compared to larger rivals like Illumina and Life Technologies.
It won't compete immediately with the monster machines from Illumina because it can decode only a tiny fraction of the human genome at a time.
Most interesting new fact: Illumina apparently passed on purchasing Ion Torrent.
It admits underestimating Illumina but says it will regain its lead.
Illumina Chief Executive Jay Flatley claims the PGM poses no threat.
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