Multiplexing System

Comprised of cylindrical glass particles, VeraCode microbeads are inscribed with holographic elements that, when excited with a laser beam, diffract the beam to produce a unique code image. The glass surface of the microbeads provides an surface for numerous bioassays, including genotyping, gene expression, and protein-based assays. Assays are created by pooling together microbeads with code diversities ranging from a few to several hundreds of codes that have been functionalized with capture biomolecules (oligos, cDNA, or protein). The patented BeadXpress Reader is used to scan the beads in the assay for their code and fluorescence signals. The analysis software converts the code image into a decimal code, which can be interpreted to represent information such as analyte, sample ID, laboratory ID, lot numbers, reagent kits, etc. Illumina has effectively demonstrated robust performance in several multiplex genotyping, gene expression, and protein assays.