Open-Access Genetic Database

Illumina, Inc., has launched iControlDB, a genotyping control repository for researchers conducting case-control whole-genome association studies. Case-control studies compare groups of patients who already have a disease (case) with a group of patients without the disease (control) to identify risk factors that may contribute to a medical condition. The database provides a cost-efficient and quick way for investigators to obtain control samples, allowing them to focus resources on genotyping disease samples. Combined with the database of Genotype and Phenotype (dbGaP), researchers can access nearly 10,000 control samples that have been donated by researchers using Illumina’s technology for single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping.

     Genomics institutes, including the Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, have contributed more than 6,000 control samples. In addition to controls deposited from the International HapMap Project, the database contains samples from Caucasian, African, African American, African-American Mixed Descent, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Hispanic-Mixed Descent, Indian, and Vietnamese populations. Researchers interested in obtaining data from iControlDB can do so via a downloadable software tool found at www.illumina.com/iControlDB. All data are subject to a rigorous quality control process. To date, control samples uploaded to this database have an average call rate of 99.6 percent. By the end of the 2007, samples in iControlDB are expected to reach more than 20,000.