Ion Genomics Newsletter: June 2, 2026
Illumina Can’t Resist MRD, Single-Cell Sequencing Maps Human Hormones, ASCO Won’t Recommend Grail Galleri, Taylor Swift’s Toy Story Song
Illumina couldn’t help itself and has decided it wants a bigger slice of the MRD pie.
Not content to simply supply sequencing for a sequencing-intensive cancer test, Illumina announced May 28 that it will be launching a new kit for minimal/molecular residual disease. It’s a research-use test for now, however, with the ability to do both solid and blood cancers, it could offer large studies an alternative to sending out to one of the many MRD testing providers. As I mentioned in a newsletter a few weeks ago, it seems as though solid tumor MRD testing is about to explode.
“Illumina’s MRD solution for clinical research leverages the advanced sensitivity of whole-genome sequencing (WGS,) coupled with unparalleled analysis, to enable our customers to more easily deliver the most precise information to advance MRD research,” Todd Christian, senior VP of Services, Arrays, and Genomic Access at Illumina, said in a statement. “We aim to make WGS in oncology more accessible and scalable to support the integration of precision solutions into the standard of care.”
By now, Illumina can be counted on to try and get in on any lucrative application developed using its sequencing tech. Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) may have been the first, when the company acquired Verinata Health in 2013. More recently, Illumina has elbowed into comprehensive genomic tumor profiling with its TruSight Oncology panels; multi-cancer early detection testing, with its (failed) Grail acquisition; single-cell sequencing with its 2024 Fluent BioSciences deal; and soon, spatial transcriptomics.
The kit is already in early access and the end-to-end research workflow can be completed in as fast as 5 days and is optimized for analytical sensitivity as low as 10 ppm.
That wasn’t all Illumina was up to this week. It also launched automated library prep workflows for the MiSeq i100 benchtop instrument on the Firefly Go with SPT Labtech.
“This solution also enables automation capabilities for a growing menu of NGS panels developed by Pillar Biosciences, supporting Illumina’s targeted oncology research portfolio,” Illumina said in a statement. Important, because it is also expanding its menu of Pillar’s oncoReveal panels to include the oncoReveal Nexus 21 Gene Panel for rapid solid tumor and hematological malignancy sequencing and the oncoReveal Lymphoid Panel, an 84-gene DNA panel.
Moreover, Illumina partnered with Danaher’s IDT to create DRAGEN data analysis for certain IDT hybridization-based library prep workflows. Initial workflows focusing on FFPE samples are available now. A version optimized for cfDNA liquid biopsy targeted applications is slated for next year.
The deal focused on research workflows, however, this year IDT announced it is heading into the clinical assay market, so having data analysis pathways already established in Illumina’s ecosystem could help it attract less bioinformatically sophisticated labs.
Non-Illumina News
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have published a study in Science describing how they mapped cells that produce and receive hormone signals.
“Drawing inspiration from the Human Cell Atlas, we analyzed expression of 379 hormone and receptor genes in a transcriptomic dataset comprising 14 million single cells and nuclei across 47 human tissues,” the authors wrote. “We predicted non-classical sites of hormone expression, including secretin in plasmacytoid dendritic cells, inferred convergent hormone action and endocrine feedback loops, and implicated cell populations in monogenic endocrine disorders.”
Data is available to view and download at https://hormonecellatlas.cellgeni.sanger.ac.uk/
ASCO Not Impressed by Grail Galleri Trial Data, Won’t Recommend Test
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) won’t be recommending the Grail Galleri multi-cancer early detection test, a spokesperson said at the society’s annual meeting, which wraps today.
As reported by Kelsy Ketchum and Turna Ray at GenomeWeb, Julie Gralow, the organization’s chief medical officer and executive VP, said “at this time, this Galleri assay should not be included in cancer screening guidelines.”
In February, I reported on Grail’s disclosure that its 142,000-participant UK NHS-Galleri trial had not met its primary endpoint of a reduction in Stage III and IV cancers. At ASCO, Grail presented complete data from that trial as well as its PATHFINDER 2 study.
Canaccord Genuity Analyst Kyle Mikson wrote in a May 31 note to investors that the “FDA’s review [of Galleri] will be driven by the promising safety and clinical performance data from PATHFINDER 2 and NHS-Galleri (rather than clinical utility data).” Moreover, he said he believes Medicare coverage decisions will emphasize US-based studies.
What I’m Reading
Murphy, M. and O’Neill, L. “A break in mitochondrial endosymbiosis as a basis for inflammatory diseases.” Nature (2024).
Why do signaling pathways triggered by infection or tissue injury use mitochondria as a central hub?
“One probable factor is that the endosymbiotic origin of mitochondria marks them apart from the rest of the cell in a way that can be co-opted to produce key messages pertaining to cell fate.”
“Whereas mitochondria can be considered ‘the enemy within’ the cell, evolution has used this strained relationship in intriguing ways, with increasing evidence pointing to the recent failure of endosymbiosis being critical for the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases.”
Elsewhere on the Internet
Hundreds of papers — some published in journals such as Nature and Immunity, by researchers at institutions including the Salk Institute and University of Cambridge — have potentially incorrect data because the Abcam website brings up an antibody for the wrong protein when you search for the p16 tumor suppressor.
Last week I wrote about data sleuth Sholto David’s discovery that the Thermo Fisher Scientific website had allegedly manipulated Western blots in its validation data for certain antibodies. Now, he writes that this p16 mix up has seeped into the literature.
“There is something unsettling about the idea that hundreds of papers can be published using completely the wrong antibody without anyone noticing, as if the research results are only loosely connected with biological reality. How many antibodies could you swap for loading controls until someone actually takes notice of what the results are telling them?” David wrote.
It’s a Toy Story, baby just say ‘Yes’
Taylor Swift announced this week that she has recorded a new, original song for the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, titled “I Knew It, I Knew You.”
“I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a 5 year old kid watching the first Toy Story movie,” Swift wrote in a June 1 Instagram post.
Kudos to the Disney execs who found a way to get more millennial parents into movie theaters when the movie comes out June 19. If you don’t want to see Buzz Lightyear battle an iPad, you can just listen to the song this Friday, June 5.