AFFX Affymetrix, Inc.

Affymetrix, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFFX) today announced at the Plant and Animal Genome XIX Conference (PAG) that it launched the GeneChip® Rice 44K SNP Genotyping Array, the first high-density rice genotyping array. This array was designed in collaboration with a worldwide community of rice researchers to improve the rice industry’s production confidence by providing a low-cost, high-quality method for reliably identifying rice varietals and examining the genetic inheritance of important agricultural traits.

The GeneChip Rice 44K SNP Genotyping Array was developed in collaboration with Dr. Susan D. McCouch, Professor in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell University, as well as a team of scientists from world-renowned rice research institutes and private sector partners. The array features more than 44,000 SNPs and detects common genetic variants within and between the major subpopulations of O. sativa, including indica, aus, tropical japonica, temperate japonica, and aromatic, or Group V.

“Our aim was to design an array dense enough to conduct genome-wide association mapping studies and with the power to find genes or loci underlying most phenotypes,” said Dr. McCouch. “The beauty of Affymetrix’ Rice 44K SNP Genotyping Array is that it enables us to explore quality and performance characteristics of rice varieties all over the world, many of which are not well known. Now their genomes are accessible.” Dr. McCouch will be presenting her work at the PAG conference in San Diego.

With the Rice 44K SNP Genotyping Array, rice breeders for the first time will be able to efficiently and cost-effectively classify their germplasm as well as track and fingerprint varieties for improved seed management, property protection, and patents. To provide the rice community with access to this powerful technology, Affymetrix has designated service providers who offer quality assurance, quick turnaround time, affordable prices, and confidentiality to researchers.

“We are pleased to have DNA Landmarks and Expression Analysis on board as our service providers to conduct this important service for the rice research community worldwide,” said Andy Last, Chief Commercial Officer at Affymetrix. “This will quicken the discovery of natural variation and quality characteristics impacting rice production, which experts say must increase to keep pace with the world’s growing population.”

The rice community’s project team, led by Dr. McCouch, also included groups from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the National Rice Research Center in Stuttgart, Arkansas, Stanford University’s Department of Genetics in Stanford, California, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Philippines. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research Program (Award #0606461).

More information about the array content, design strategy, and experimental data can be found at www.ricediversity.org or www.gramene.org.

For information about genotyping service for the array, contact Charles Pick of DNA Landmarks at charles.pick@dnalandmarks.ca, Carolyn Wait of Expression Analysis at cwait@expressionanalysis.com, or call Affymetrix customer service at 1-888-362-2447.

About Affymetrix

Affymetrix technology is used by the world's top pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and biotechnology companies, as well as leading academic, government, and nonprofit research institutes. More than 2,000 systems have been shipped around the world and more than 22,000 peer-reviewed papers have been published using the technology.

Affymetrix is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and has manufacturing facilities in Santa Clara, Cleveland, Ohio, and Singapore. The company has about 1,000 employees worldwide and maintains sales and distribution operations across Europe and Asia. For more information about Affymetrix, please visit http://www.affymetrix.com.

Disclaimer

The information stated above was prepared by Affymetrix, Inc. and reflects solely the opinion of Affymetrix, Inc. Nothing in this statement shall be construed to imply any support or endorsement of Affymetrix, Inc., or any of its products, by any other institution mentioned, including Cornell University, their officers, agents and employees.

Forward-looking statements

All statements in this press release that are not historical are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act as amended, including statements regarding Affymetrix’ “expectations,” “beliefs,” “hopes,” “intentions,” “strategies” or the like. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially for Affymetrix from those projected. These and other risk factors are discussed in Affymetrix’ Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, and other SEC reports for subsequent quarterly periods.

NOTE: Affymetrix, the Affymetrix logo, and GeneChip are trademarks or registered trademarks of Affymetrix Inc.

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