Life Technologies to Accelerate Development of Ion Torrent Semiconductor Technology for Proteomic Applications in Research, Applied and Clinical Markets

CARLSBAD, Calif.,– Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:LIFE – News) today announced that it will accelerate development of its Ion Torrent Semiconductor technology for a broad set of proteomic and antibody-based applications after passing internal Life Technologies R&D milestones.

Proteomic and antibody-based technologies are used prevalently across multiple addressable markets in research, applied sciences and clinical diagnostics. Research and development teams across Life Technologies are focused on new product development in these addressable markets.

Life Technologies anticipates potential initial applications in transplant diagnostics (human leukocyte antigen – HLA), microbiology, and food safety testing, but additional application areas may be explored internally or via partnership.

“Our internal efforts are accelerating the research and development to build products which use Ion Torrent to detect signals inherent in the binding complexes with proteins, antigens and antibodies,” said Alan Sachs, chief scientific officer of Life Technologies.

Life Technologies is committed to continuing to invest in the development of these proteomic and antibody-based applications for the Ion Torrent technology and in expanding its intellectual property portfolio in this arena.

Antibody / antigen complexes and proteins can be combined with bead-based sample-preparation technologies used on Ion Torrent’s Semiconductor Sequencing technologies. The sensitive signal detection available on the Ion Torrent semiconductor chip works by recognizing electrical and ionic changes through a sensor, and the currently available products are being used with nucleic acids.

“In disease areas like Transplant Diagnostics and Cancer, having the ability to analyze proteins and genes on the same system, in the same lab, brings convenience, better turnaround time and allows for democratization of critical information for better patient management,” said Ronnie Andrews, president of Medical Sciences at Life Technologies.

The Ion PGM system is currently for research purposes only and is not intended for diagnostic uses.

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 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: https://www.lifetechnologies.com.

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