UQ gene researcher joins Illumina

Global genomics company Illumina has appointed University of Queensland researcher Dr Ryan Taft as its director of scientific research.

Taft is a researcher and PhD graduate from the university’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, where he has been leading a laboratory focused on identifying the genetic causes of rare disease. In this role, Taft and his team identified a new disease, HSBL, and the gene responsible.

Taft will maintain a joint appointment at UQ upon joining Illumina, which is based in his home city of San Diego.

Commenting on his appointment, Taft said human genome sequencing is revolutionising medicine. “These discoveries are ushering in an era of truly personalised medicine, where diagnoses and treatments will be based on an individual’s genetic information,” he said.

“One of my roles at Illumina will be to help build the scientific and diagnostic community networks that will aid scientists in analysing a genome quickly and identifying disease-causing mutations.”

He said his joint appointment with UQ meant he will retain a strong connection with Australia, which is “an ideal place to pilot these technologies because it has world-leading genomics expertise, a well-educated and well-resourced society, a centralised medical system and a small population”.

Illumina yesterday announced that its first-quarter revenue grew 27% year on year to US$421m ($449.3m). Net profit grew to US$80m, from US$63m a year earlier.

R&D costs grew to US$77m from US$61.5m, but the company still ended the quarter in a strong cash position of US$1.09bn.

Illumina CEO Jay Flatley said the company is expecting a “strong 2014”. Illumina is forecasting revenue growth of between 21% and 23% for the full financial year