PIONEERING AN INDUSTRY Affymetrix, Inc.
Overview / Affymetrix is a pioneer in creating breakthrough tools
that are driving the genomic revolution. By applying the principles
of semiconductor technology to the life sciences, Affymetrix develops
and commercializes systems that enable scientists to improve the
quality of life. The Company’s customers include pharmaceutical,
biotechnology, agrichemical, diagnostics and consumer products
companies as well as academic, government and other non-profit
research institutes. Affymetrix offers an expanding portfolio of inte-
grated products and services, including its integrated GeneChip®
platform, to address growing markets focused on understanding the
relationship between genes and human health.
History / Affymetrix began independent operations in late 1992
in Santa Clara, California. The Company has offices worldwide.
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1989The world’s first
microarray prototype built using a microscope slide
In the late 1980s, a team of scientists led by Stephen P.A. Fodor,
Ph.D. enabled breakthroughs in understanding the human condition
when they invented microarray technology*. The theory behind their
work was revolutionary — a notion that semiconductor manufactur-
ing techniques could be united with advances in combinatorial
chemistry to build vast amounts of biological data on a small glass
chip. As Dr. Fodor’s team developed the GeneChip® brand platform,
the human and other important genomes were being sequenced and
made available through public databases such as the one created by
the Human Genome Project. The combination of the genetic
sequence of an organism with the powerful GeneChip array platform
has transformed the study of modern biology. Researchers can now
ask questions across a whole genome at once, not just a few genes at
a time. They can perform experiments in hours that used to take
weeks, months, or even years. And the information resulting from
their efforts is richer and deeper than ever before, providing new
insights into conditions ranging from diabetes to cystic fibrosis, from
asthma to heart disease. Nowhere is this fundamental change more
profound than in cancer research, where hundreds of scientific stud-
ies conducted with GeneChip technology are offering new hope for
diagnosing, classifying and treating both common and rare cancers. In
less than a decade, Affymetrix took the GeneChip platform from
concept to commercialized product, enabling pharmaceutical and
biotech companies, universities, and public and private health organ-
izations the world over to access the vast information content from
the Human Genome Project.
* Light-directed, spatially addressable parallel chemical synthesis. Fodor, S. P. A., Read, J., Pirrung, M., Stryer, L., Lu, A., Solas, D. Science 251 (4995), 767-73, 1991.
This landmark publication was the first reported description of microarray technology. It also first described combinatorial chemistry techniques for generation of large
chemical libraries.
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1989Microarray fabrication cell
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1993World’s first microarray containing over 1 million DNA sequences
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1994Commercial DNA
microarray prototype
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2002GeneChip Human Genome U133A array. Part of a two-chipset analyzing over 33,000 genesfrom the public databases.
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1989High contrast
film-based photomask
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1989Photocamera used for early photomask experiments
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1989High contrast mask made
of chrome on glass at a feature size of 500 microns
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199316-format, wafer-based manufacturing mask
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199549-format, wafer-based
manufacturing mask
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1999400-format, wafer-based manufacturing mask
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1989World’s first
microarray scanner
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1994World’s first commercial microarray scanner manufactured by MolecularDynamics for Affymetrix
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1997Microarray scanner
manufactured for Affymetrix by Hewlett-Packard
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2003Affymetrix GeneChip Scanner 3000
1991First scientific publication
describing both microarray technology and
combinatorial chemistry
1994-2002Technology and commercial evolution
1994 16,000 >10 1
1997 50 65,000 >30 >50
1998 24 256,000 >60 >100
2000 20 400,000 >220 >400
2002 18 500,000 >820 >740
100
Date Micron size Features/chip PublicationsNumber of GeneChip systems worldwide
1989
Film-based photomask
Film-based photomaskdeveloped by Fodor toconfirm his hypothesis forlight-directed synthesison a solid support.
1989
Photocamera
Photocamera used byFodor to mount the high contrast film-based photomask.
1989
Microarray prototype
First microarray developed by Fodor and his colleagues.
1989
Microarray scanner
First scanner developedto quantitatively detectbinding of a test sampleto the microarray.
1989
Prototype flow cell
Array featured a flow cellfor easier processing.
1991
Science publication
Fodor and his colleaguespublish their findings inScience — launching themicroarray industry.
1993
16-format, wafer-basedmanufacturing mask
Manufacturing maskswere developed to make16 arrays simultaneously.
1993
DNA microarray
Array featured an integrated hybridizationchamber and containedover 1 million oligonucleotides on a single array.
1994
DNA microarray
Commercial DNA micro-array prototype
1995
49-format, wafer-basedmanufacturing mask
Masks were developed to manufacture 49 GeneChiparrays simultaneouslywith approximately 16,000features at 100 microns.
2002
GeneChip array
Commercial GeneChiparrays contained over 500,000 uniquefeatures at 18 microns.
2003
GeneChip Scanner 3000
Scanner builds onAffymetrix’ expertise in scanner design anddevelopment to offersuperior performance onan easy-to-use, desktopplatform.
T H E WAY A H E A D
We are in the infancy of understanding the human genome. The
genetic sequencing of the mouse and other model organisms suggests
that the 30,000 - 40,000 functional human genes discovered thus far
are just the beginning of a story; the genome is a complex, challenging
and elegant puzzle. With that in mind, Affymetrix chose photo-
lithography, a process that literally harnesses the power of light, to
manufacture its arrays. Just as it has done for the semiconductor
industry, this process allows for exponential growth in information
capacity, an essential element in managing and interpreting the vast
data found within the genome. Scientists are already using
Affymetrix arrays containing more than 60 million DNA probes each
to uncover human diversity by sequencing through multiple human
genomes. Using those same tools, researchers are beginning to
understand how human populations have migrated around the world
over time and how genetic variation exists in blocks called “haplo-
types.” Whole-genome experiments are showing transcriptional
activity far beyond the commonly accepted genes, suggesting that
most all of the As,Cs,Ts, and Gs of the genome have some role to play
in biology. As more of the genome is packaged onto GeneChip
arrays, biology will take further leaps forward, as the vast universe of
the human condition is unveiled.
Affymetrix, Inc.3380 Central ExpresswaySanta Clara, CA 95051T 408-731-5000F 408-731-5380www.affymetrix.com
Affymetrix UK Ltd.Voyager, Mercury ParkWycombe Lane, Wooburn Green High Wycombe, HP 10 0HH, UKT +44 0-1628-552550 F +44 0-1628-552585
Affymetrix Japan K.K.Mita NN Bldg, 16th Floor 4-1-23 Shiba Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0014 T +81 0-3-5730-8100 F +81 0-3-5730-8101