GBM #3 10/21/10

For the third general body meeting of the semester, Dr. Bryan Crane from Illumina Inc. came to talk to us about optomechanical and fluidic designs in the field of Genomics. He began by first explaining that Illumina Inc., is a leading developer of genetic sequencing technology whose products are revolutionizing the field of molecular medicine. Their breakthroughs in Genomics (aka the study of an organism's DNA sequence) are aiding in the early detection of diseases and providing improved treatments to cure these ailments.

Dr. Crane is a Senior Engineer whose primary duty is the development of the HiSEQ 2000 sequencing device. He explained how the optical and thermal/fluid systems within the device enable the machine to read and process over 3 Billion clusters of information from the human genome. This "sequencing by synthesis" technology allows the HiSEQ 2000 to deliver the industry's highest sequencing output at the fastest data generation rate.

All of the Officers and members of ASME@SDSU would like to greatly thank Dr. Crane for taking time out of his busy schedule to come down and provide us with such fascinating look into the field of genomics engineering!