On January 13 (local time), Illumina unveiled its inaugural data product, the “Billion Cell Atlas,” crafted by its newly established business unit, BioInsight. This offering marks the first milestone in a three-year initiative to develop the “Fifty Billion Cell Atlas.” The atlas is set to produce single-cell transcriptomic data at an annual rate of 20 petabytes. Presently, Illumina has forged a partnership with pioneers like AstraZeneca, Merck & Co., and Eli Lilly and Company to commence the atlas's construction for a carefully selected set of cell lines. The objective is to propel drug target validation forward, facilitate large-scale training of sophisticated AI models, and enhance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of diseases.
