Ion Torrent Gets Better Faster With 4th Qtr New Product Releases

CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) today announced eight innovative new research products, including the Ion Sequencing 200 Kit, which enables 200 base pair reads. The Ion Personal Genome Machine™ sequencer is now the only next-generation sequencer that can deliver millions of highly accurate long reads in a single day.

"Nine months after our launch, the speed, simplicity and scalability of the Ion PGM™ platform continues to improve at an unprecedented rate, driving new application development," said Ion Torrent Founder and CEO Dr. Jonathan Rothberg. "We're getting better faster as the Ion Community, a network of more than 3,000 scientists that is growing by 100 people a week, develops new applications using our open protocols, datasets and source code."

This quarter eight new product launches bring additional speed, scalability and simplicity to the Ion platform.

Speed

Ion Xpress™ Plus Fragment Library Kit: This improved version of Ion Torrent's enzymatic shearing kit reduces library preparation time to just 2 hours, reducing the total workflow, from DNA to sequence, to just eight hours.

Torrent Suite 1.5: New algorithm developments have significantly improved both output and accuracy of sequencing. Total Q20 base output increases by over 100 percent and the number of perfect 100 base pair reads increases by over 200 percent. Base-calling accuracy has also improved, while reducing analysis time to just 30 minutes on the Ion 314™ chip and to one hour on the Ion 316™ chip.

Simplicity

Ion OneTouch™ System: This automated template preparation system features walk-away convenience, just minutes of hands-on time and a 4-hour workflow. Over 400 units shipped in September alone.  

Ion AmpliSeq™ Cancer Panel: This novel product enables scientists to screen research samples for hundreds of cancer mutations in a single day, compared to weeks required with current technologies. The single-tube assay, which is shipping this week, is as simple to perform as PCR: simply add 10 ng of FFPE extracted DNA to one tube containing up to 480 primer pairs, perform PCR followed by Ion OneTouch™ template prep and then sequence using the Ion PGM™ sequencer. For more information on Ion AmpliSeq™ Custom Panels, which target regions up to 100 kb, go to Ion Community.  

Scalability

Ion Semiconductor Sequencing Chips

The Ion PGM™ sequencer was launched nine months ago with a 10 Mb output on the Ion 314™ chip.  A 127 Mb dataset was recently released on the same chip, demonstrating greater than 10x scaling over nine months. We have also released a 1 Gb dataset on the new Ion 318™ chip, demonstrating 100x scaling of the platform in under a year. Datasets are available for download on the Ion Community. We expect the Ion 318™ chip to be shipping commercially by the end of 2011.

Ion Sequencing 200 Kit:   A recently released dataset created with this 200 bp kit demonstrating mean read lengths of 231 bases and perfect reads over 300 bases.

Ion TargetSeq™ Custom Enrichment Kit:   This kit employs in-solution hybridization to enrich for targeted gene regions greater than 100 kb.  The kit offers the highest probe density and enrichment efficiency, delivering more than 85 percent on-target performance.

Ion Xpress™ DNA Barcode Adaptor 1-16 Kit: These 16 barcodes minimize the amount of adaptor sequence needed and are optimized for Ion semiconductor sequencing. The barcoding scheme used is readily scalable up to 384 barcodes.

Additional Announcements

Future In-Vitro Diagnostic status for the Ion PGM™ sequencer: Ion Torrent also announced today that it will seek FDA 510(k)-clearance for the Ion PGM™ sequencer in 2012. The sequencer's speed, simplicity and scalability make it an ideal platform to extend into diagnostics and finally make next generation sequencing a practical reality within the clinic.

All of the products discussed in this press release including the Ion PGM™ and the Ion AmpliSeq™ Cancer Panel are for Research Use Only and are not intended for use in human or animal diagnostic or therapeutic uses.

The content provided herein may relate to products that have not been officially released and is subject to change without notice.

About Life Technologies (www.lifetechnologies.com)

Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) is a global biotechnology company dedicated to improving the human condition. Our systems, consumables and services enable researchers to accelerate scientific and medical advancements that make life even better. Life Technologies customers do their work across the biological spectrum, working to advance the fields of discovery and translational research, molecular medicine, stem cell-based therapies, food safety and animal health, and 21st century forensics. The company manufactures both molecular diagnostic and research use only products. Life Technologies' industry-leading brands are found in nearly every life sciences lab in the world and include innovative instrument systems under the Applied Biosystems and Ion Torrent names, as well as the broadest range of reagents with its Invitrogen, GIBCO, Ambion, Molecular Probes and TaqMan® products. Life Technologies had sales of $3.6 billion in 2010, has a workforce of approximately 11,000 people, has a presence in approximately 160 countries and possesses one of the largest intellectual property estates in the life sciences industry, with approximately 3,900 patents and exclusive licenses. For more information on how we are making a difference, please visit 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.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110216/MM49339LOGO)

Ion Torrent Contact
Wes Conard
415-385-4455
[email protected]

SOURCE Life Technologies Corporation

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