New York Genome Center Purchases Four Ion Proton™ Sequencers for its new Innovation Center

CARLSBAD, Calif., July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) today announced that the New York Genome Center (NYGC) has purchased four Ion Proton™ Sequencers for its new Innovation Center. The sequencers, which are designed to sequence an entire human genome in a few hours for under $1,000, will be housed at IFM Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and used to accelerate its research on the genetic mechanisms of cancer.  

The Ion Proton™ Sequencer is a complementary platform to the Ion PGM™ Sequencer, which has become the fastest selling benchtop sequencer with the largest benchtop next-generation sequencing install base in laboratories worldwide. The Ion PGM™ System remains the fastest and most affordable solution to sequence sets of genes, small genomes and small RNA.  The new Ion Proton™ System will deliver rapid, inexpensive sequencing to scientists focused on understanding the function of exomes, transcriptomes and human-scale genomes. 

"The Innovation Center is a critical component of the NYGC's growth strategy, and we are pleased to be collaborating on it with Life Technologies, a company that shares our commitment to technology advancement," said Nancy J. Kelley, Founding Executive Director of NYGC. "The Ion Proton Sequencer will enable our network of world-renowned scientists to remain on the leading edge of research and participate in sequencing-based collaborative studies focused on advancing the era of genomic medicine."

"We are extremely excited to be the first site for NYGC's Innovation Center, through which we are gaining access to this technology," said Thomas J. Kelly, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Sloan-Kettering Institute. "We believe the system will greatly accelerate the rate at which we can collect information about the molecular changes in DNA that give rise to diseases such as cancer, enabling us to better exploit this information to develop more effective therapeutic strategies in the future." 

Biologist Dr. Scott W. Lowe, a member in the Cancer Biology & Genetics Program at the Sloan-Kettering Institute and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, is studying difficult-to-treat cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia and hepatocellular carcinoma. Dr. Lowe said he believes the technology will enable his team to more quickly examine the genetic changes, or mutations, which occur in these difficult-to-treat cancers, understand how these mutations influence response to therapy, and, in the future, identify cancer-specific therapeutic targets.

"We are pleased that the New York Genome Center has joined a growing list of prestigious, research-focused hospitals and institutions around the world that are rapidly adopting our Ion semiconductor sequencing technology," said Mark Stevenson, President and Chief Operating Officer of Life Technologies. "Like our other partners, we believe the NYGC will benefit from this disruptive technology by being able to quickly generate accurate genomic data and apply it to human disease research."

The above-mentioned technology is for research use only and not intended for human diagnostic or therapeutic use.

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.

Life Technologies Contact
Wes Conard
415-385-4455
[email protected]

About the New York Genome Center

Founded in August 2010, NYGC is an independent non-profit that magnifies the expertise and resources of world-class universities, medical centers, technology partners, pharmaceutical companies, and private philanthropists that are engaged in a cooperative effort to transform medical research and clinical care. NYGC's Institutional Founding Members include: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Columbia University, Cornell University/Weill Cornell Medical College, The Jackson Laboratory, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York University/NYU School of Medicine, North Shore-LIJ Health System, The Rockefeller University, and Stony Brook University. The Hospital for Special Surgery is an Associate Founding Member. For more information: www.nygenome.org.

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SOURCE Life Technologies Corporation