Life Technologies Corporation will exhibit products across the spectrum of basic, translational and clinical cancer research during the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2012, taking place March 31 – April 4, in Chicago, Illinois. In addition, several of Life’s customers and collaborators will present research findings.

“From basic discovery of biomarkers to validation of new drug targets and the application of genomic sequencing in clinical trials, Life Technologies provides optimized solutions specific for cancer research,” said Ronnie Andrews, president of medical sciences at Life Technologies. “We share with our customers a commitment to accelerating our scientific understanding of cancer, driving to a world in which cancer becomes a manageable disease.”

DNA sequencing live on the Ion Bus – The Ion Bus offers a unique opportunity to view the game-changing Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM) system in action. The Ion Bus will be parked outside the Chicago Hilton at the intersection of Wabash and Balboa streets. The Ion Bus will be open for tours from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., April 1 – 3.

Presentations:

Triple negative breast cancer - Triple negative breast tumors, which make up nearly 20 percent of breast cancers, do not respond to treatment with targeted therapies such as Herceptin (trastuzumab).

To investigate new options for these patients, the first clinical trial of whole-genome sequencing for women with triple negative breast cancer was initiated in March 2010; early results will be presented by John Carpten, Ph.D., head of the Integrated Cancer Genomics Division at the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) on Monday, April 2 at 10:30 a.m. Life Technologies is supporting the study, which is revealing the diversity of genetic mutations in triple negative tumors.

Semiconductor sequencing of melanoma samples – George Watts, Ph.D., research assistant professor and co-director of the Genomics Shared Service at The University of Arizona Cancer Center, will present a poster demonstrating accurate, cost-effective sequencing of six commonly mutated genes in archived research samples from metastatic melanoma patients using the Life Technologies Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM) system.

The authors state that the study represents proof of principle for “next-generation sequencing to provide robust detection of mutations in fixed tumor samples.” The poster will be presented April 2, Monday morning, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

AmpliSeq panels accurately identify more than 700 mutations in patient samples – Marilyn Li, Ph.D., professor of molecular and human genetics and director of the Cancer Genetics Lab at Baylor College of Medicine, will present a poster demonstrating use of the Life Technologies Ion AmpliSeq cancer panels to sequence 12 archived tumor research samples including FFPE, bone marrow and cell line samples.

The authors report that the panel accurately identified all known mutations previously detected using Pyrosequencing or Sanger sequencing and was sensitive enough to detect mutations at frequencies as low as 5% with 99% confidence. The poster will be presented April 3, Tuesday morning from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Single tube, ultra-multiplexed PCR with Ion AmpliSeq technology for amplicon resequencing on the Ion Personal Genome Machine System – Gianluca Roma, a senior product manager at Life Technologies, will present data highlighting the accuracy, simplicity and speed of mutation detection in research oncology samples using the Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM) and Ion AmpliSeq cancer panel (see below). Roma will present a poster April 3, Tuesday morning from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

New Products:

Life Technologies offers cancer researchers the ability to detect mutations in cancer-associated genes using both PCR and sequencing platforms.

castPCR – TaqMan Mutation Detection Assays can help detect 44 mutations in three key cancer genes (BRAF, EGFR, and KRAS). In April 2012, Life will expand the number of assays covered by the existing/current research tool to an additional 241 key mutations in another 21 cancer genes. Powered by an innovative technology known as competitive allele-specific TaqMan PCR (castPCR technology), these assays help researchers detect key mutations in the highly heterogeneous samples typical of cancer tissue.

AmpliSeq panels – The Ion AmpliSeq Cancer Panel, made available for sale in the fall of 2011, allows scientists to sequence dozens of genes in cancer research samples within several hours, starting with as little as 10 ng of DNA. The panel detects more than 700 mutations across 46 known cancer genes. This week, Life Technologies announced the availability of Ion AmpliSeq Custom panels, which will allow researchers to design custom panels for genomic regions up to 250 Kb in size, expanding to 1 Mb later in 2012.

These products are available as Research Use Only, Not for Diagnostic Use.

Visit Life Technologies in Booth #4419 on the Exhibits floor of McCormick Place West. For more information about Life Tech activities at AACR Annual Meeting 2012, please visit:

http://www.lifetechnologies.com/global/en/home/about-us/news-gallery/events/Join-Life-Technologies-at-AACR.html?CID_AACR_blog_32012

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The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard, the two premier entertainment media brands of Prometheus Global Media (PGM), are making their content available worldwide for use on digital platforms to customers of The Associated Press.

Starting this month, the entertainment feed of breaking news and feature stories from Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter can be purchased for online use under the content-distribution arrangement with the AP.

“We’re thrilled to be able to provide The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard material among our content offerings to customers,” said Lou Ferrara, AP’s managing editor for entertainment. “It makes for a one-of-a-kind, comprehensive package of entertainment stories every day.”Named Entertainment Publication of the Year by the LA Press Club, The Hollywood Reporter is a leading source for breaking news and in-depth reporting on the entertainment industry.

Providing exclusive, all-access features on Hollywood and scooping stories that range from the History channel’s decision to drop The Kennedys miniseries amid political pressure from the Kennedy family to CBS’ decision to replace Charlie Sheen with Ashton Kutcher on Two and a Half Men, THR has garnered more than 55 billion media impressions during the past year.

Its website, which draws 10.4 million unique monthly visitors, now receives more web traffic than its three biggest competitors combined. ”Being part of AP’s massive distribution network will open THR to huge new audiences from around the world,” said The Hollywood Reporter editorial director Janice Min.

THR’s co-partner in the AP content-distribution deal, Billboard, is widely considered to be one of the most authoritative voices in music. The multiplatform, trend-setting brand has been responsible for breaking some of the music industry’s biggest headlines, including putting a then-largely unknown Adele on itsJanuary 2011 cover, breaking news of Mattel’s plans to create a Nicki Minaj Barbie doll and scooping the story of Enrique Iglesias’ decision to pull out of Britney Spears’ North American tour last year.

With 11.6 million unique monthly visitors, Billboard.com is one of the premier online music destinations worldwide. ”Billboard is already synonymous with ‘music’ all around the globe, but the reach of the brand’s content will now be increased exponentially thanks to the AP,” said Billboard editorial director Bill Werde. “AP is truly the top news agency in the world when it comes to distributing entertainment stories, and we’re pleased and excited to contribute to that effort.”

Said Michael Dutton, global director of AP entertainment products: ”In-depth coverage from two leading entertainment media brands offers AP’s distribution partners a whole new layer of vibrant and rich content for their readers.”

The AP has covered the entertainment industry since the early days of Broadway, the London stage and Hollywood. Today, it covers entertainment worldwide in video, photos, text and audio for all platforms and devices and is one of the top outlets for breaking entertainment news. It was the first outlet to report the divorces of Katy Perry and Demi Moore as well as the Feb. 11 death of Whitney Houston.

Image Courtesy of   Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com

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