Pacific Biosciences ($PACB) has stepped up the fight for the sequencing market with the introduction of an instrument that is smaller, cheaper and higher throughput than the model it replaces. Roche ($RHHBY) has already signed up to use the instrument, named Sequel, as the basis for a tool it will deploy in clinical research. Shares in PacBio soared following the news, closing up 67% the day after it was released. The specifications of the sequencer also had an effect on perceptions of Illumina ($ILMN). Shares in the sequencing giant closed down 7% the day after the news--having dropped as much as 12% at one point--as investors sought to assess the likely impact of the instrument on its dominance. Release | opiniomics | Omics! Omics!