We are pleased to have completed our Series D funding round, even though it is six months later than we originally planned due to the collapse of capital markets, said Dr. Clifford Reid, chairman, president and CEO of Complete Genomics. This new capital will enable us to scale up our facilities in preparation for large customer projects. We now plan to launch our large-scale commercial sequencing center in January 2010 with the goal of sequencing 10,000 human genomes next year.

Dr. Alex Barkas, managing director of Prospect Venture Partners and a member of Complete Genomics ™ board, said, As the competition proceeds to establish next-generation platforms for sequencing both full and expressed human genomes, it is encouraging to have early customer acceptance of Complete Genomics ™ platform and the support of Essex Woodlands and OrbiMed. These leading venture firms conducted exhaustive diligence on Complete Genomics ™ technology, competitive landscape and customer interest in scaling their adoption of this approach.

At the end of the day, one platform will emerge as the commercial leader in defining the population genetics of human disease and disease predisposition, and we believe that Complete Genomics has that proprietary platform. It delivers a depth of sequencing and quality competitive to any sequence published to date with a fully burdened cost of goods more than an order of magnitude lower than the $50,000 genome announced earlier this month, Dr. Barkas added.

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