febit Launches Whole Genome Sequencing Service in Europe

Yesterday, febit announced that the company offers whole genome sequencing services in Europe for a broad range of species. febit acquired two Applied Biosystems SOLiD™ high-throughput sequencing systems from Life Technologies for whole genome resequencing. One of the two systems will be used within R&D while the other is employed within febit’s Genomic Service Department.

“We combine our expertise in optimizing samples for highest coverage in targeted resequencing with the established SOLiD sequencing power,” said Peer Staehler, CSO of febit.

The complete press release from febit can be read here.

Life Technologies Teams with Gen-Probe to offer Aneuploidy Kits

Life Technologies Teams with Gen-Probe Life Sciences to Provide Elucigene QST*R Aneuploidy Kits

CARLSBAD, Calif. – March 20, 2010 – Life Technologies Corporation today announced a partnership with Gen-Probe Life Sciences Ltd., to commercialize Gen-Probe’s Elucigene QST*R Aneuploidy Kits under the Applied Biosystems brand in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Latin America and Canada. The kits will not be available for sale in the U.S.

“Through our collaboration with Gen-Probe Life Sciences, we will be providing diagnostic labs with specialized kits for the rapid and unambiguous analysis of the most common viable human aneuploidies or chromosomal abnormalities, including Down syndrome,” said Andy Felton, Ph. D., Director, Genetic Systems Division at Life Technologies. “By working with Gen-Probe Life Sciences, we take another important step toward our continued commitment to deliver high value diagnostic assays for use in the clinic. This agreement exemplifies Life Technologies’ dedication to deliver easy to use, highly accurate applications on our CE sequencing systems.”

The kits are labeled for use in diagnostics and work in conjunction with the Applied Biosystems industry-leading line of capillary electrophoresis (CE) systems, including the new 3500 Series Genetic Analyzer. Initial sales of the Applied Biosystems branded kits are anticipated to begin mid-year 2010.

“Gen-Probe Life Sciences is pleased to collaborate with Life Technologies in a combined effort to contribute to advancing molecular medicine,” said Mike Webb, General Manager of Elucigene products for Gen-Probe Life Sciences. “This partnership will enable a wider global presence for our technology which we deeply believe helps improve prenatal care.”

“This joint relationship signifies a combined commitment in providing diagnostic tools for clinical applications,” said Scott Higgins, Business Manager for Gen-Probe Life Sciences. “Through its collaboration with Applied Biosystems, Gen-Probe Life Sciences will be able to provide Aneuploidy Detection Kits to a wider international clinical community.”

About Life Technologies (www.lifetechnologies.com)
Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) is a global biotechnology tools company dedicated to improving the human condition. Our systems, consumables and services enable researchers to accelerate scientific exploration, driving to discoveries and developments that make life even better. Life Technologies customers do their work across the biological spectrum, working to advance personalized medicine, regenerative science, molecular diagnostics, agricultural and environmental research, and 21st century forensics. Life Technologies had sales of $3.3 billion in 2009, employs approximately 9,000 people, has a presence in 160 countries, and possesses a rapidly growing intellectual property estate of approximately 3,900 patents and exclusive licenses. Life Technologies was created by the combination of Invitrogen Corporation and Applied Biosystems Inc., and manufactures both in-vitro diagnostic products and research use only-labeled products. For more information on how we are making a difference, please visit us online at www.lifetechnologies.com. Follow Life Technologies on Twitter @LIFECorporation and on Facebook.

Life Technologies Contact
Patty Zamora
760-476-7818
patty.zamora@lifetech.com

When Pigs Fly

Terminal 2, gate 23

The latest Life Technologies ad has landed at the San Diego International Airport. While waiting for your flight you can get up close and personal with a drosophila fly, a pig, a rainbow and some algea and learn how these seemingly non-scientific creatures and elements are truly impacting science today and helping lead us all to the discoveries of tomorrow.

Life science holds the key to many of the 21st century's greatest challenges and we're doing our part to find the answers.

Lessons from the Pandemic: Influenza A (H1N1) and the Biotech Industry

One year ago this April, a new and deadly flu emerged in Mexico that would prove to be one of the most pervasive and virulent influenza strains to emerge in 100 years. As we approach the year anniversary of swine flu entering the public lexicon, join BIOCOM as we hear from influenza experts and discuss lessons learned from this pandemic. How did public health agencies from around the world handle the outbreak? How will vaccine production be handled in the future? And what does the biotech industry need to do better to ensure its ability to respond to public health emergencies like this in the future?


Here KPBS health reporter Tom Fudge asks Brain Plew, Head of Public Health at Life Technologies about what the scientific community has learned about H1N1 over the past year, if the virus has changed and the reason for an actual "flu season". Brian and Tom were joined on the panel by the Vice President of Vaccine Research for Vical Inc., Larry R. Smith, Ph.D, and John D. Tamerius, Ph.D, SVP of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at Quidel Corporation.

This panel took place on March 17th at the La Jolla Hyatt.

Scientists use the SOLiD System for short reads of chicken DNA

Domestic animals are excellent models for genetic studies of phenotypic evolution and the chicken is no exception. They have evolved genetic adaptations to a new environment, the farm, and have been subjected to strong human-driven selection leading to remarkable phenotypic changes in morphology, physiology and behavior. Identifying the genetic changes underlying these developments provides new insight into general mechanisms by which genetic variation shapes phenotypic diversity.

This week, in the journal Nature, a paper on Whole-genome resequencing of the chicken was published, using Life Technologies' SOLiD System. The paper describes the use of massively parallel sequencing to identify selective sweeps of favorable alleles and candidate mutations that have had a prominent role in the domestication of chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) and their subsequent specialization into broiler (meat-producing) and layer (egg-producing) chickens. The researchers cited in this paper have generated 44.5-fold coverage of the chicken genome using pools of genomic DNA representing eight different populations of domestic chickens as well as red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), the major wild ancestor.

The scientists report more than 7,000,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms, almost 1,300 deletions and a number of putative selective sweeps. One of the most striking selective sweeps found in all domestic chickens occurred at the locus for thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR), which has a pivotal role in metabolic regulation and photoperiod control of reproduction in vertebrates. Several of the selective sweeps detected in broilers overlapped genes associated with growth, appetite and metabolic regulation. The scientists found little evidence that selection for loss-of-function mutations had a prominent role in chicken domestication, but they detected two deletions in coding sequences that they suggest are functionally important. This study has direct application to animal breeding and enhances the importance of the domestic chicken as a model organism for biomedical research.

To read the complete paper, visit here.

Autophagy: Cells Under Stress

Autophagy, a cell death process that has emerged in the study of disease areas such as cancer, neuro-degeneration and immunological disorders, is challenging to study due to a lack of accurate, sensitive and robust assays, particularly in neurons, stem cells and cancer cells. Life Technologies is introducing the Premo™ LC3-FP kit, which provides researchers for the first time the ability to view this process in live cells. Based on LC3B, a critical component and indicator of autophagy, the new kit combines the selectivity of an LC3B-fluorescent protein (FP) fusion with the transduction efficiency of the 2^nd generation BacMam technology, enabling unambiguous visualization with a simple, one-step protocol. The BacMam LC3B-FP reagent is added to the cells, including neurons and stem cells, incubation takes place overnight for protein expression, allowing researchers to easily image and analyze. For additional information, click here.

SOLiD™ 3 System Used to Sequence Canadian Bull

In an effort that brings Canada to the forefront of livestock genomics worldwide, scientists at the University of Alberta have just completed the genome sequencing of two types of bulls, one dairy and one beef (pictured below). These are the first animals to have been fully sequenced in Canada. Dr. Stephen Moore and Dr. Paul Stothard of the University of Alberta’s Bovine Genomics Program, in partnership with Life Technologies, have sequenced to a 20 fold coverage these two bulls on the SOLiD™ 3 System.

What does this mean?
Dr. Moore, the leader of the Bovine Genomics Program, said “Having an assembled sequence of the 3 billion DNA bases that constitute the genome of this elite Holstein bull allows the team to study the genetic variations that characterize its performance and to follow their transmission over subsequent generations. Over 4.6 million genetic mutations were detected in the two bulls most of them previously unknown.

This sequencing is significant to the dairy cattle industry because the bull’s genes are likely to make an important contribution to the genetic make-up of future generations. There will also be benefits for the beef industry. Better knowledge of the genetic variation across the breeds will, through better breeding decisions, improve production efficiency, product quality and animal health, and reduce the environmental footprint of beef cattle production.

"The outcome will be that consumers will benefit from the research with more cost effective and healthier products on store shelves,” said Dr. Moore.

What does the future hold?

Whole genome sequencing was enabled through recent advancements in next generation sequencing platforms. The team sequenced the bull's genomes using the SOLiD™ 3 System by Life Technologies which enabled them to complete the work in seven months at a cost of $130,000. The first cow was sequenced in 2009 after four years at a cost of $50 million.

“The SOLiD technology has allowed us to generate high density sequence information in a small number of runs. Combined with the high accuracy of the data it has made the recent sequencing much more effective than was previously possible,” Dr. Moore said in a statement at the University of Alberta.

Click here for more information.