Company orders UK's first Illumina HiSeq 2000

9 March 2010

Source BioScience plc

('Source BioScience' or 'the Company')

Source BioScience orders UK's first Illumina HiSeq 2000

Source BioScience plc (LSE: SBS), the provider of expert, quality services to the life science research, pharma biotech and healthcare sectors, is pleased to announce the purchase of Illumina's new HiSeq 2000 high throughput next generation sequencing platform, the first laboratory in the UK to do so.

This investment will further strengthen Source BioScience's existing complement of three Illumina GAIIx sequencing platforms and will ensure Source BioScience's status as one of Europe's leading commercial service providers for this cutting edge technology.

The HiSeq 2000 delivers the highest sequencing output and fastest data generation rate that the industry currently offers. It uses the same sequencing by synthesis chemistry and ancillary equipment as the GAIIx but innovative engineering has enabled sequencing output to be increased by around 300 per cent.

As the UK's only Illumina CSPro certified sequencing laboratory, the HiSeq 2000 platform perfectly complements Source BioScience's extensive portfolio of genomic and diagnostic platforms.

Source BioScience already operates customer-focused DNA sequencing laboratories in five major academic centres across UK and Ireland and this additional investment in the Nottingham facility will ensure that the Company remains at the forefront of conventional and next generation DNA sequencing.

Since 2008 the Company has invested £1.2 million in next generation Illumina technology and is a key player in the rapidly growing market for outsourced DNA sequencing. The enhanced service portfolio will provide greater flexibility and encourage the development of new applications to meet individual customer requirements in life science research as well as molecular pathology and clinical diagnostics.

Dr Cheng-Eng Ang, Head of Worldwide Sales for next generation sequencing at Source BioScience said: "The HiSeq 2000 provides sequencing at a scale and resolution that has not been possible before and we are thrilled to be the first lab in the UK to invest in this technology. Our considerable experience with the Illumina platforms means that we expect to fully commission the platform very rapidly and we are already in a position to take customer orders for HiSeq projects."

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For further information, please contact:

Source BioScience plc Dr Nick Ash, Managing Director Dr Cheng-Eng Ang, Next Generation Sequencing Tel: +44 (0) 115 973 9010 www.sourcebioscience.com

Bishopsgate Communications Nick Rome / Gemma O'Hara Tel: + 44 (0) 207 562 3350 www.bishopsgatecommunications.com

About Source BioScience:

Source BioScience (LSE: SBS) is a highly focused healthcare and biotechnology company providing diagnostic and screening services to the healthcare community and genetic analyses and biomolecular tools and products to the life science research and pharma biotech sectors.

Its Healthcare operations provide screening and reference laboratory diagnostic testing for cancer and other diseases and additional predictive testing for treatment optimisation for clinicians and patients. Pharma Biotech Services offers support for early stage therapeutic development, offering a 'one-stop shop' from tissue pathology, immunohistochemistry, sophisticated image analysis, biomarker determination and assay development to pharmacogenomics including genotyping and gene expression analysis. Life Science Research services provide core laboratory research support from conceptualization to implementation, calling upon a wide range of cutting-edge technology platforms including an online catalogue of biomolecular tools. This incorporates DNA sequencing, whole genome amplification and a comprehensive library of genomic reagents and clones including cDNA and RNAi, as well as facilitating rapid access to high quality antibodies, cell cultures, diagnostic assays for cancer and other genetic testing, and related research tools.

The Group has its headquarters in Nottingham, UK where it operates state of the art reference laboratory facilities, with additional laboratory facilities in London, Cambridge, Oxford and Dublin, Ireland. Source BioScience is CPA, GLP and GCP accredited and is licensed by the Human Tissue Authority.

Further information about Source BioScience can be found at www.sourcebioscience.com

About DNA sequencing

DNA sequencing is the process of precisely ordering the building blocks, or nucleotides, of an organism's DNA. The method can be used to determine short sequences of DNA or, in larger experiments, to sequence the entire genome of an organism. Whilst the technology by which whole genomes are sequenced may differ, all existing platforms require that the DNA is broken up into short fragment. These fragments are then sequenced simultaneously and reassembled using sophisticated analysis and data handling to assemble the fragments together.

The first full human genome sequence was reported in 2003. This was a multi national project involving hundreds of sequencing machines working 24 hours a day, cost £1.5 billion and took 13 years to complete. By comparison, a single Illumina HiSeq 2000 will deliver the sequences of two human genomes in just one week.

The application of sequencing, and especially next generation sequencing, to life science research and medical research will enable dramatic advances in our knowledge and understanding and has significant implications for the identification, diagnosis and ultimately treatment of disease.