CARLSBAD, Calif., Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Life Technologies
Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) today announced Ion AmpliSeq™ Community
Panels, a community-driven solution to gene panel sequencing that
leverages the expertise of scientific thought leaders and the Ion
Community to create gene panels for conditions ranging from cancer
to inherited diseases. Life Technologies also announced an upgrade
to its Ion Reporter™ Software, which further simplifies sequencing
data analysis and interpretation with an automated point-and-click
workflow that makes informatics accessible to everyone.
Ion AmpliSeq™ Community Panels are built on the same
breakthrough technology that powers the Ion AmpliSeq™ Ready-to-Use
Panels and the Ion AmpliSeq™ Custom Panels. Since introduction just
a year ago, Ion AmpliSeq™ Ready-to-Use Panels for over 40,000
reactions have been sold for cancer and inherited disease research.
Additionally, in just seven months more than 900 scientists have
designed their own Ion AmpliSeq™ Custom Panels online with Ion
AmpliSeq™ Designer on ampliseq.com, a simple web-based assay design
tool.
Ion AmpliSeq™ Community Panels are developed in collaboration
with leading scientists who draw on their expertise in a specific
disease area to select gene content for panels. These panels are
then verified and made available to the entire Ion Community.
Users have the option of adding or removing gene content to
precisely fit their research needs, providing the ultimate
flexibility.
One of the first panels was developed by eight leading European
researchers who worked together with Life Technologies scientists
to develop a 22-gene Ion AmpliSeq™ Community Panel for lung and
colon cancer. Click here to see a video interview with the
OncoNetwork members. The panel analyzes more than 500 mutations in
a single-tube assay that requires just 10 ng of DNA input per
primer pool, about 25-fold less than alternative gene panel
approaches. The Ion AmpliSeq™ workflow is a simple PCR
reaction that takes just 3.5 hours turn-around time.
"Using classical methods to screen for mutations one at a time
requires so much DNA sample, you often can't look at all the
mutations you want," said Dr. Pierre
Laurent-Puig, M.D., Ph.D., Professor at the Paris - Descartes University Medical School
and a member of the OncoNetwork Consortium. "We have developed a
tool that allows us to characterize tumors very easily, using only
10 ng of sample to screen more than 500 COSMIC mutations. Having
these kits in our hands will accelerate throughput of the
characterization of tumors and make personalized medicine a
reality."
The research institutions that developed the panel – dubbed the
OncoNetwork – include Centro Ricerche Oncologiche Mercogliano,
Italy; Leiter Genetik /
Molekularbiologie Viollier AG, Switzerland; University
of Warwick, UK; Institut Gustave Roussy France; Radboud
University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands; Universite Paris Descartes
Centre, Universitaire des Saints-Peres, France; St James' Hospital, Dublin EIRE.
In addition to the OncoNetwork panel, Life Technologies is
working with other leading researchers to develop new Ion AmpliSeq
Community Panels: Ion AmpliSeq™ AML Panel, for acute myeloid
Leukemia research; Ion AmpliSeq™ BRCA1/2 Panel, for breast and
ovarian cancer research; Ion AmpliSeq™ Cardio Panel, for heart
disease research; Ion AmpliSeq™ CFTR Panel, for cystic fibrosis
research and the Ion AmpliSeq™ TP53 Panel, for cancer
research. Ion AmpliSeq™ Community Panels are verified by the
same researchers who designed the gene content. All of these
designs are available today for review at ampliseq.com. Join the
13,500-member Ion Community today to find out more about the
program or to contribute to creating Ion AmpliSeq Community
Panels.
Sequencing for All: Point and click bioinformatics
solution drives to the biology
For many labs, the biggest hesitation in moving to Next
Generation Sequencing (NGS) is analyzing and interpreting the flood
of data that NGS can produce. Ion Torrent's new v1.2 of Ion
Reporter Software radically simplifies NGS data analysis and
interpretation with an automated point-and-click model that takes
you from Ion semiconductor sequencing reads to an
easy-to-understand annotated report, helping scientists understand
the impact of genomic variants.
Ion Reporter™ v1.2 enables users to rapidly process genomic data
using predefined workflows optimized for each specific sequencing
panel and for the most popular experimental designs, such as an
oncology tumor-normal workflow and an inherited disease workflow
for finding genetic abnormalities and novel variants in trios.
Additionally, Ion Reporter™ Software v1.2 includes a new
collaborations feature that allows users to share samples,
analyses, and results with trusted community members, as well as
the latest in security protocols, e-signatures, and audit logs
ensuring data security standards are met.
Ion Reporter™ v1.2 is also now integrated with the Ingenuity®
Variant Analysis™ workflow to allow users to leverage the vast
Ingenuity Knowledge Base® to identify biologically relevant
variants. Both Ion Reporter™ Software 1.2 and the Ingenuity Variant
Analysis workflow are available free of charge until the end of
2012. To learn more about how Ion Reporter™ Software and Ingenuity
are simplifying bioinformatics, come the Ion Torrent User Group
Meeting at ASHG in San Francisco
on Thursday, Nov. 8.
Sequencing for All: An unprecedented pace of
innovation
Life Technologies has made tremendous progress on the products
that it announced just eight weeks ago at the Ion World conference.
The current and future products include the Ion Proton™ System and
Avalanche™, a revolutionary 30-minute emulsion-free template
preparation chemistry that will work on all Ion platforms and
enable sample-to-answer workflow in under eight hours. To
learn more about this unprecedented pace of innovation, come to the
Ion Torrent Workshop at ASHG on Nov.
7 and hear from Ion Torrent Founder and CEO Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, as well as other leaders in
sequencing.
The Ion Torrent products discussed in this press release are for
Research Use Only; not for use in diagnostic procedures.
About Life Technologies
Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) is a global
biotechnology company with customers in more than 160 countries
using its innovative solutions to solve some of today's most
difficult scientific challenges. Quality and innovation are
accessible to every lab with its reliable and easy-to-use solutions
spanning the biological spectrum with more than 50,000 products for
agricultural biotechnology, translational research, molecular
medicine and diagnostics, stem cell-based therapies, forensics,
food safety and animal health. Its systems, reagents and
consumables represent some of the most cited brands in scientific
research including: Ion Torrent™, Applied Biosystems®,
Invitrogen™, GIBCO®, Ambion®, Molecular Probes®, Novex®, and
TaqMan®. Life Technologies employs approximately 10,400 people and
upholds its ongoing commitment to innovation with more than 4,000
patents and exclusive licenses. LIFE had sales of $3.7 billion in 2011. Visit us at our website:
http://www.lifetechnologies.com.
Life Technologies' Safe Harbor Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements about our
anticipated results that involve risks and uncertainties. Some of
the information contained in this press release, including, but not
limited to, statements as to industry trends and Life Technologies'
plans, objectives, expectations and strategy for its business,
contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Any statements that are not statements of historical
fact are forward-looking statements. When used, the words
"believe," "plan," "intend," "anticipate," "target," "estimate,"
"expect" and the like, and/or future tense or conditional
constructions ("will," "may," "could," "should," etc.), or similar
expressions, identify certain of these forward-looking statements.
Important factors which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements are
detailed in filings made by Life Technologies with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Life Technologies
undertakes no obligation to update or revise any such
forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or
circumstances.
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Media Contacts:
Wes Conard
Life Technologies Corporation
wes.conard@lifetech.com
415-385-4455
SOURCE Life Technologies