Today Illumina has confirmed that they will stop taking order for consumables of HiSeq instruments in November of this year.
Launched in 2009, the HiSeq platform was a game changer, bringing for the first time “the cost of sequencing a human genome below $10,000”. The full range of HiSeq platforms, HiSeq 2000, 1000, 2500, 4000 and ultimately X, have driven genomics research and discoveries for a decade until it got replaced by the next generation of sequencers from Illumina (NovaSeq) or long read sequencing companies (PacBio, Oxford Nanopore Technologies). It is difficult to estimate how many instruments have been installed and used in London over the years but some facilities of the Network still have a couple of them running although we wouldn’t recommend to to start a new project on these right now.
So long, HiSeq! We had a great time and thanks for your service but it’s time for us to move on to shinier, faster, bigger sequencers, or their long read cousins.
