In our latest alumni spotlight, we had the pleasure of speaking to Siok Hwee Tan, a returning Illumina alumnus who currently serves as the Strategic Accounts Manager in the Strategic Projects department, overseeing Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.  

Siok previously worked at Illumina as part of the Enterprise Informatics group, where she focused on developing an informatics solution for patient reports. With a passion for supporting patients in achieving their treatment goals through genomics, Siok shares her journey in the industry and what drew her back to working for Illumina.   

1. What drew you to working in genomics? 
   

   My expertise lies in Molecular and Cellular Biology, and my interest in large-scale genomics work only grew during my PhD. After completing my doctorate, I joined a start-up affiliated with Stanford University, where I validated and transferred NGS sequencing assays to a CLIA lab using Illumina sequencing technology. 
   

2. How have you witnessed the evolution of the genomics industry over the years? 
   

   The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a significant increase in the recognition of genomics for infectious disease surveillance and vaccine development. As a population, we are also witnessing the application of mRNA vaccine technology in personalized cancer vaccine trials, which have shown promising clinical data. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the first CRISPR-Cas9 treatment will receive FDA approval this year, generating extensive media coverage and highlighting the life-changing potential of genomics. As genomics becomes more prominent in public consciousness, its role in healthcare will continue to grow. 
   

3. How did you land your first job at Illumina? 
   

   Prior to joining Illumina, I worked for a start-up where I validated NGS assays. Eventually, I took on the responsibility of generating patient reports using clinical sequencing data. Recognising the arduous and time-consuming nature of creating these patient reports, I became intrigued by how informatics could improve this process to make it more efficient and scalable. When Illumina offered me the opportunity to join their Enterprise Informatics group, I was thrilled by the prospect of developing a software solution to overcome this frustrating bottleneck. 
   

4. What motivated you to return to Illumina after your initial departure? 

   
   Illumina's vision of improving human health through unlocking the power of the genome has always been empowering to me. Witnessing the positive impact genomics has had on cancer patients' outcomes, I firmly believe that genomics has the potential to revolutionise medicine in the future. Unfortunately, work on many other diseases lacks effort to utilize the power of genomics and transform patient outcomes. By working on projects that generate genomics data from various disease types for target discovery, we take the first step in providing the necessary data to expedite the development of treatments, particularly for diseases with unmet needs.  

   
   Each of us has our own career journey at Illumina, driven by our unique reasons and aspirations. I look forward to collaborating with both current and former staff members more in the future. 
   

5. Finally, what are you most proud of in your current work? What are your biggest challenges? 

   
   I take great pride in working on something that can potentially help numerous patients find the treatments they require. However, our day-to-day work is not without its challenges, primarily due to the early stages of the initiatives I am involved in. Educating our customers about genomics is a pressing need for us, so that they can leverage its power to achieve their goals.