Data Indicates Solexa’s Ability to Handle a Broad Range of Sequencing Applications

HAYWARD, Calif. and Cambridge, U.K. (February 9, 2006) – Solexa, Inc. (Nasdaq: SLXA) today announced a number of significant technical advances that highlight the potential of the Solexa Genome Analysis System to transform DNA sequencing and expression profiling.  The presented data provides evidence of the Company’s progress in successfully extending the capabilities of its system to handle a broad range of sequencing applications.

Speaking at the 2006 Advances in Genome Biology and Technology Conference (AGBT), Dr. David Bentley, chief scientist of Solexa, presented data on the Company’s progress in achieving higher raw read accuracy, longer read lengths and paired reads.  He further discussed data that demonstrates the feasibility of using the Solexa Genome Analysis System for resequencing of entire genomes, of candidate and linkage regions and of genes, as well as provided preliminary results from Solexa’s Genome Initiative, the Company’s stated goal to resequence a human genome in 2006.  

“The data presented today speaks to the enormous technical progress we have made in recent months, and indicates that we could access a wider segment of the sequencing market and accelerate the adoption rate of the system,” stated John West, chief executive officer of Solexa.  ”We expect these impressive achievements to enhance the ability of scientists to rapidly and economically resequence genomes using the Solexa Genome Analysis system, and to extend the system’s capabilities to perform true de novo sequencing and other specialized sequencing applications.”

Among the technical achievements reported by Solexa are: 

• High quality reads currently up to 50 base pairs (bps) using typical human templates;

• Reduced error rates averaging less than 1% over 25bp reads with typical observation of up to 65% perfect reads out to 35bps;

• Demonstration of paired read capability, providing proof of principle that the Solexa Genome Analysis system can be extended to perform true de novo sequencing applications;

• Development of protocols and pilot experimental data for resequencing entire genomes, candidate and linkage regions and genes;

• Further validation of earlier reported results, indicating that data generated by the Solexa Genome Analysis System appears to be free from significant sequence- or structure-specific anomalies;

• Consistent coverage distribution approaching Poisson for human genomic templates; and

• Solexa Genome Initiative pilot experiments, which demonstrate that sequences generated to date are evenly distributed across all human chromosomes as expected from a random and unbiased “shotgun” fragment generation method.

The Company also announced its commitment to release data generated from a variety of projects, including Solexa’s Genome Initiative, at regular intervals. The data, which will include sequence traces as well as aligned reads, will be made available through an intuitive, easy-to-use browser developed in collaboration with Ensembl.

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About Solexa

Solexa, Inc. is developing and preparing to commercialize the Solexa Genome Analysis System, which will be used to perform a range of analyses including whole genome resequencing, gene expression analysis and small-RNA analysis. Solexa expects its first-generation instrument, the 1G Genome Analyzer, to generate over a billion bases of DNA sequence per run and to enable whole genome resequencing below $100,000 per sample, making it the first platform to reach this important milestone. Solexa's longer-term goal is to reduce the cost of human resequencing to a few thousand dollars for use in a wide range of applications from basic research through clinical diagnostics. For further information, please visit www.solexa.com.

This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the current views of Solexa management as to intellectual property matters, future products, product development and commercialization of the Company’s novel genetic analysis technology, and the expansion and success of Solexa's commercial application of its genomics technologies.  Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "predicts," "expects," "envisions," "hopes," "estimates," "intends," "will," "continue," "may," "potential," "should," "confident," "could" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such expectations of any of the forward-looking statements will prove to be correct, and actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in the forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Solexa to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 and its registration statement on Form S-3 filed with the SEC on January 27, 2006. Solexa does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.

For more information, please contact:

Solexa, Inc.   

Omead Ostadan, Vice President of Marketing

(510) 670-9300

oostadan@solexa.com

European Media Contact:

Northbank Communications

Sue Charles, CEO

+44 (0)20 7886 8152

s.charles@northbankcommunications.com 

Investor Contacts: 

Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates

Jody Cain (jcain@lhai.com)