It's the first East Coast location for the San Diego-based company. Here's how leaders say it can raise the profile for Baltimore's biotech community.

A leading genomics company with international reach is opening its first commercial location on the East Coast at Baltimore’s University Maryland BioPark.

San Diego-based Illumina, which was founded in 1998 and has 7,000 employees worldwide, specializes in DNA sequencing and microarray technology. Wired called the company the “Google of Genetic Testing,” and the company’s own data said it is responsible for generating more than 90% of the world’s sequencing data.

The new office, called the Illumina Solutions Center, is located at 801 W. Baltimore St. The 13,000-square-foot space will play host to trainings on its technology and provide office space for customers and commercial teams. Illumina didn’t disclose how many employees it will have in the space, but said hundreds of employees and customers will come to the space for trainings.

The location will give Illumina proximity to the research activities at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, which is part of UMB. Specifically, the company is looking to build on an existing relationship with the University of Maryland’s Institute for Genome Sciences and its director, Dr. Clare Fraser, as the Institute’s address is near where the center will be based.

Read the full article at Technical.ly Baltimore.