Illumina’s Commercial Launch of Proteomics Assay, Acquisiton of SomaLogic
By Bio-IT World Staff
September 10, 2025 | At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January, sequencing company after sequencing company laid out their vision for 2025: the year of the proteome. Illumina joined the chorus. Jacob Thaysen, Illumina’s CEO, highlighted proteomics as a particularly exciting area of focus.
At the January meeting, Thaysen announced a pilot proteomics program with UK Biobank to analyze 50,000 UK Biobank samples in collaboration with deCODE Genetics, Standard BioTools, Tecan, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis. The pilot program used Illumina's proteomics assay, Illumina Protein Prep, with SOMAmer technology, a next-generation sequencing (NGS) based solution that will help scale access to proteomic insights. In June, Illumina announced a definitive agreement with Standard BioTools under which Illumina will acquire SomaLogic, a leader in data-driven proteomics technology. (That transaction has not closed yet; until then Illumina and SomaLogic operate as separate entities.)
Last week, Illumina made Illumina Protein Prep broadly available to customers worldwide.
"NGS-based proteomics provides critical speed, accuracy, reproducibility, and scalability to power large studies and accelerate the drug discovery pipeline for our ecosystem partners in biopharma," said Steve Barnard, chief technology officer of Illumina, in a press release. "Proteomics is essential to advancing our understanding of disease and is a central pillar of multiomics. Illumina Protein Prep will help deliver multiomics at scale to transform biologic discovery."
Illumina Protein Prep is powered by SOMAmer technology and can measure 9500 unique human protein targets, the most with an NGS readout; offering the greatest insights into protein biology. Combining the Illumina Protein Prep assay with NovaSeq sequencing platforms enables the simultaneous interrogation of thousands of proteins in a single experiment, maximizing the discovery power of proteomics studies. After sequencing, DRAGEN Protein Quantification and Connected Multiomics software work together to turn complex proteomic data into clear insights.
Early Access Feedback
Since 2024, Illumina has worked with nearly 40 early collaborators to pilot Illumina Protein Prep, informing development and leading to an optimized customer experience. Since the inception of early access, about 30,000 samples have been processed with the Illumina Protein Prep 6K assay and over 6,000 samples with the Illumina Protein Prep 9.5K assay, which was made available through early access this March.
Researchers leading Genomics England's 100,000 Genomes Project have implemented a multiomics program aimed at improving upon the 2019 diagnostic yield of about 25% for the rare disease cohort. As part of that, they've leveraged Illumina Protein Prep to profile more than 7,800 participants. Data from the initial 500-sample pilot study showed a significant 7.5% increase in diagnostic yield.
"Until now, proteomics has been considered as a standalone research test, and what this study shows is it will have a much bigger clinical impact on both rare and common diseases," said Professor Matthew Brown, chief scientific officer of Genomics England, in the same statement. "I am confident based on our pilot that proteomics will have significant clinical value in the not-too-distant future."