9 March 2026
Asia is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s most dynamic and influential hubs for healthcare and genomic innovation—and Singapore is ready to lead the way. With its unique combination of demographic diversity, research momentum, and expanding infrastructure, it is ideally positioned to become a powerhouse for next-generation genomics.
At the heart of this transformation is the A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore (A*STAR GIS). Since its inception in 2000, A*STAR GIS has collaborated with international and local partners, including Illumina, to push the boundaries of genomic technologies and informatics—gaining exceptional insights into biology and human health. From applying large-scale genome sequencing and analytics to better understanding public health threats, A*STAR GIS has established strong capabilities that drive scientific discovery from the laboratory to real-world clinical impact. Now, A*STAR GIS is entering a new phase of collaboration with Illumina that will bridge global innovation with regional applications and open the door to new possibilities.
“A*STAR advances science into impact by working closely with industry and the healthcare community, so research stays anchored to real-world needs and can move faster from discovery to application,” says Dr. Lisa Ooi, Assistant Chief Executive, Biomedical Research Council at A*STAR. “The collaboration with Illumina builds on this foundation by enabling deeper knowledge exchange and shared capacity development in genomics and multiomics technology. Working with Illumina, we expect to accelerate the translation of new insights into better diagnostics and therapeutics, support more sensitive and precise detection, and strengthen Singapore’s role as a regional health innovation hub.”
Together with Illumina, A*STAR GIS will harness the power of genomics to solve real-world health problems. Illumina multiomic technologies will deliver a better understanding of biological mechanisms like RNA folding and post-transcriptional regulation, which play a key role in many diseases, from cancer to infectious disease. These insights will help identify more informative biomarkers and unveil new therapeutic targets.
“Illumina’s sequencing technologies change the way we view biology. One of the promising technologies reads out protein amounts using sequencing,” says Dr. Wan Yue, Executive Director at A*STAR GIS. “Transcript expression and protein abundance data are both deeply helpful in understanding molecular phenotypes. Having access to tools that can layer this data will enable more integrated, high-resolution studies, strengthen our research capability, and accelerate the translation of discoveries into actionable insights.”
In addition to advancing precision health, they also hope to improve population health. Genetic variation and disease biology can differ across populations, but many populations, including Asian, are underrepresented in global datasets. This lack of diversity results in research discoveries that are not accurate for everyone—and as a result don’t benefit everyone. Now, with possible early access to Illumina’s genomic and multiomic technologies, A*STAR GIS can expand evidence and resources that better reflect Asian diversity and enable a more complete characterization of genomic variants—ensuring emerging diagnostics and therapeutics better serve global populations.
“Singapore’s leadership in genomics is grounded in its ability to produce high-quality Asian biological data and insights,” says Nilesh Shah, Head of Region for APAC at Illumina. “Moreover, the Asian-Pacific region is comprised of multi-ethnic cohorts, presenting significant opportunities to enhance variant interpretation, uncover novel disease architectures, develop more equitable risk models for global populations, and advance global genomic diversity, at scale.”
These contributions underscore the reason Singapore has become an essential hub for Illumina, and why Illumina has steadily deepened its presence in Singapore, where its growing investment in research and development (R&D) are accelerating regional and global genomics innovation. Over the past decade, Illumina Singapore has seen significant growth in R&D—expanding from a 20-person team to a 260-person team and notably advancing their delivery of sequencing technology, assay and chemistry development, and software and artificial intelligence innovation. This not only reinforces Illumina’s multiomics strategy but also reflects a shared commitment to improving precision medicine and population health.
“Illumina Singapore and A*STAR GIS share a common mission, rooted in advancing human health through innovation,” says William Ng, Vice President of Singapore’s R&D Department at Illumina. “Both organizations believe strongly in investing in technologies and research that deliver meaningful benefits to human health, as well as fostering close and effective collaboration between academia and industry to drive impactful outcomes.”
Because Illumina will be able to test and validate products in a real-world setting, it will enable faster product iteration. “We build better solutions when we develop with scientists in real research environments. Validating technologies in active workflows helps ensure that what we deliver is robust, scalable, and ready for the demands of our customers,” says Illumina Director of Scientific Research, Yin Nah Teo, who is based in Singapore. “Innovation cycles in genomics can take years when development and feedback are disconnected. By working closely with leading researchers, we can move faster, learn earlier, iterate more efficiently, and deliver advances into practice sooner.”
With Illumina’s industry-leading sequencing technology, A*STAR GIS’s scientific strengths, and Singapore’s rich Pan-Asian diversity, this collaboration is poised to accelerate discoveries that will redefine the global genomics landscape.
Use of forward-looking statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors to which our business is subject that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements are: (i) challenges inherent in researching, developing and launching new technologies; (ii) our and our partners’ ability to deploy new products, services, and applications, and to expand the markets for genomics-related products and services; and (iii) the challenges associated with multiparty collaborations, including our reliance on the performance of such partners, together with other factors detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, or in information disclosed in public conference calls, the date and time of which are released beforehand. We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update these forward-looking statements, to review or confirm analysts’ expectations, or to provide interim reports or updates on the progress of the current quarter.
