- The COVID-19 pandemic is the first time in human history that the entire world is
focused on solving a single problem.
And as we race against the virus and the clock, the defining narrative of the 21st century
is emerging.
19th century was the era of the industrial revolution and the atom.
The 20th century was the era of the digital revolution and the bit.
The 21st century will be the era of biology and the genome.
Welcome to Illumina's 2021 SPARK Conference.
This annual event focuses on highlighting key innovations and innovators in genomics,
and inspiring the breakthroughs of the future.
Together, we're leading a genomics revolution.
We've made enormous clinical, scientific, and technological progress over the last 20
years.
We at Illumina have reduced the cost of sequencing by over 99% since 2006.
From $150,000 a genome to $600 a genome.
And we're committed to driving costs down even further to $100 a genome and beyond.
And yet, less than 1% of the world has had their genome sequenced.
There's a critical, urgent need to make genomics and precision medicine available to everyone.
Through innovation, collaboration, education, and philanthropy, we will make genomics available
to all, making healthcare more proactive, preventative, and personalized.
The extreme challenges of the pandemic have accelerated the genomic revolution and changed
us.
We're emerging from the pandemic into the 21st century, just like World War I effectively
launched the 20th century.
World War I overturned the dominant structures of the 19th century, and set up the central
narratives of the 20th century, from the emergence of new nations to the battle for women's rights.
It accelerated groundbreaking technologies, including airplanes, blood banks, TB screening,
typhoid vaccines, disinfectants, and prosthetics.
The changes brought about by this inventor's war were so profound that one historian remarked,
"Soldiers rode in on horses and flew out on planes."
The groundbreaking scientific and medical stories of this pandemic across pathogen surveillance,
research, vaccine, and therapy development, testing and screening are catalyzing a new
genomic era in human health.
In the fall of 2019, Illumina worked with Chinese health authorities to help identify
the cause of the pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan.
And on January 10th, 2020, they published the sequence of the causative pathogen, SARS-CoV-2,
a coronavirus.
This publication launched the global race for diagnostic tests, therapies, and vaccines.
Now vaccine development is a complex process, typically lasting 10 to 15 years.
And we've never had a coronavirus vaccine before.
Genomics changed this forever.
Less than a year after the first case was reported to the WHO, vaccines were being rolled
out globally, an incredible scientific and medical achievement.
What's especially amazing is that Moderna and Pfizer-BioEnTech never had the live virus
on site.
Their mRNA vaccines, the first ones ever, are based completely on genomic information
coming off Illumina sequencers.
And this is just the beginning when it comes to genomic vaccines.
Moderna and BioEnTech are developing mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccines.
And a team at Yale is currently testing an RNA vaccine for malaria, which kills more
than 400,000 people every year.
Genomic epidemiology has also been critical to understanding the virus's transmission.
In February, 2020 Trevor Bedford sequencing of the first US cases showed that the virus
had been spreading silently for six weeks in Washington State.
The public health actions that followed helped avert a catastrophic spread in Seattle, like
the one we saw in New York weeks later.
Genomic epidemiology is emerging as a key tool to stop the spread of potentially deadly
diseases.
The COVID-19 Genomics Consortium in the UK, the Functional Genomics Center in Zurich,
Helix, and others have set up genomic sequencing for nationwide surveillance to track the variants
emerging around the world.
Tulio de Oliveira's groundbreaking work setting up genomic surveillance in South Africa helped
reveal that three variants were responsible for 42% of all the infections in South Africa's
first wave.
The fact that we can identify variants in real-time, and use their information to make
mRNA booster shots within days is remarkable.
The pandemic also accelerated CRISPR's entry into the clinic.
And in 2020, Sherlock Biosciences delivered the first CRISPR-based FDA-cleared kit.
CRISPR's impact on patients extended beyond COVID-19.
Victoria Gray became the first person to be cured of sickle cell anemia by a CRISPR therapy.
At Oregon Health and Science University, a patient with LCA, a degenerative genetic eye
disorder, became the first human to receive a CRISPR/Cas9 therapy injected directly into
the body.
A CRISPR may also help cure genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy.
We're also seeing the next generation of CRISPR technology enable new applications.
Locus Biosciences is developing antibacterial products.
And Scribe Therapeutics is engineering the CasX enzyme to develop therapeutics for genetically-driven
ALS.
This is the dawn of a new era.
Another trend catalyzed by the pandemic is the acceleration of liquid biopsies, blood-based
NGS testing for therapy selection and monitoring for cancer patients.
This growing scientific and clinical support for liquid biopsies, for tumor genotyping,
and diagnostic workflows for metastatic cancer.
And in August, 2020, Guardant360 received the first FDA approval for a liquid biopsy
test.
Eventually, blood-based testing could replace radiology to monitor patients while under
therapy.
We're also on the cusp of transforming cancer survivability with early detection.
Detecting cancer early saves lives.
For many cancers identified in stage one, the five-year survival rate is more than 80%.
However, if the cancer is detected at stage four, the survival rate after five years declines
to only 18%.
Unfortunately, most cancers have no screening test.
And at least 2/3 of cancer deaths are attributable to tumors with no current recommended screening.
Early cancer detection via simple blood test is truly revolutionary, and could avert more
cancer deaths than all current screening, testing, treatment, and surgery standards
combined.
We're also recognizing the potential for genomics to fight complex diseases such as cardiovascular,
kidney, and chronic lung diseases, diabetes, stroke, and Alzheimer's, conditions that impact
1/3 of all adults.
Genomics also playing an important role in combating climate change in our planet.
One of the existential challenges of our generation.
Scientists are the leveraging genomics to identify crops that tolerate higher temperatures,
and increase soil salinity.
Genetic information can be used in breeding livestock to reduce methane emissions.
Scientists are also sequencing cell-free DNA in oceans to track fish populations, and guide
sustainable fishing practices.
There is no part of the organic world that operates beyond the reach of genomics.
Now, while the pandemic has highlighted the vast opportunity for genomics, it's also highlighted
challenges, like inequity of access to healthcare.
Patients of color are more likely to test positive for COVID-19 and suffer more severe
health consequences.
We need to increase access to sequencing globally.
Over the past year, Illumina has donated sequencers and consumables to the Africa CDC to be distributed
across 10 countries in Africa where access to NGS is limited.
In addition, I'm proud to announce that Illumina is committing $60 million to a global pathogen
genomics initiative in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other
public and private entities.
We're expanding our commitment to the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative to create a genomic
pathogen surveillance network around the world, building critical global genomic epidemiology
capabilities in areas of need, starting with a focus in South Asia.
Illumina's also partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop innovative
pathogen surveillance tools for public health systems.
We'll create end-to-end solutions from sample collection devices to pan pathogen analysis
software to help study pathogen dynamics and the interactions with the environment and
our immune systems.
These initiatives will help public health systems protect their populations and bring
us all closer to the vision of a global early warning system for emerging biological threats
so that we will never be caught off guard again.
Over the last 15 months, COVID-19 has taken over 3 million lives worldwide.
Loved ones lost, children orphaned.
So many reeling from unemployment, poverty, and the immense suffering that the pandemic
has inflicted on the world.
Healthcare workers on the front lines bravely and tirelessly put patients' needs ahead of
their own.
Many of them lost their own lives as they fought to save the lives of others.
None of us will forget this tragic time in history, but 2020 will also be remembered
as a transformative year for medicine, genomics, and humanity.
Researchers working together quickly identified the causative pathogen, teased apart the virus's
genetic makeup, understood how it damages the human body, and monitor its evolution
and spread.
Scientists created life-saving diagnostics, vaccines, and therapies in record time.
This collaborative effort across boundaries has changed science and medicine forever.
"We rode in on horses and we'll fly out on planes."
At SPARK, innovators across genomics and healthcare come together to discuss the future.
Susan Tousi will lead a dialogue with Dame Sue Hill, Chris Mason, Charles Rotimi, and
Michael Sherman on how we leverage genomic technology in healthcare to increase access
for all.
You'll hear about leveraging machine learning and AI to decode cancer from oncogenomic pioneers
Elli Papaemmanuil, Christina Curtis, and Joel Dudley in a panel moderated by Alex Aravanis.
Ashley Van Zeeland hosts a discussion with Kimberly Wilson and Raquel Bracken about equity
and leadership in healthcare innovation from preclinical pipeline to point of care.
And in a very special Nobel-to-Nobel conversation, Frances Arnold and Jennifer Doudna will talk
about their groundbreaking journeys as women in science, and the power of CRISPR to drive
science in the lab and the clinic.
Merrilyn Datta will moderate a panel with Kaia Wassik, Jill Hagenkord and Pauldi Ottewell,
where they'll explore the pipeline of today's cutting edge omics.
Phil Fable, Scott Gottlieb, Eric Tople, Tulio de Oliveira, and Stacy Gabriel will discuss
genomic surveillance, variant detection, and the collaborations helping combat the pandemic.
Our next speaker's work lives at the center of humanity's biggest battles, from climate
change to infectious disease.
For 20 years, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been committed to fighting the greatest
inequities in the world.
Bill joins us to talk about the critical role pathogen genomics plays in fighting the COVID-19
pandemic and in the future of public health.
And now, please welcome Bill Gates.