Nanotechnology is all about understanding things at the smallest unit of measurement possible. Like the oceans, we’re only beginning to explore how life works at a cellular level. Next-generation sequencing tools from Illumina $ILMN have allowed all kinds of genomics companies to proliferate, with some winners and losers. Both spend money on sequencing tools which is why we find the Illumina razor-blade story so compelling. It’s a pick-and-shovel play on the growth of genomics.
Despite all the potential, this leader in genomic instruments has been in the growth doldrums since their doomed acquisition of cancer-screening firm GRAIL $GRAL with revenues trending flat or even negative since.
As the market leader, Illumina should be finding ways to grow their business through selling adjacent complementary offerings – like long-read sequencing.
The Long-Read Sequencing Opportunity
Illumina instruments perform what’s called “short-read sequencing,” which, as the name implies, doesn’t paint a complete picture of the genome. To understand the entire genome, you need “long-read sequencing,” which is understandably more expensive, but that’s where all the details can be found and fed to hungry AI algorithms for insights. Illumina developed their own long-read offering which is described as “synthetic” and not the same type offered by the two most prominent providers of such tools – Oxfor