Life Technologies Launches Flagship PCR Instrument that Enables Cost-Effective, High-Throughput Screening Applications

QuantStudio™ 12K Flex system takes all-in-one approach to scale with the needs of each experiment by offering quantitative and digital PCR capabilities

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Oct. 12, 2011 – Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) today announced the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio™ 12K Flex Real-Time PCR system, a highly versatile genetic analysis instrument that enables cost-effective and efficient interrogation of hundreds of target genes over thousands of samples in a single run.

The growing demand of biomarker screening experiments, particularly in the early research phases of pharmacogenomics and agricultural biotechnology fields, has created a greater need for high-throughput technology that can provide answers for researchers faster, more accurately and at a reasonable price per reaction.

The QuantStudio™ 12K Flex system addresses this with its ability to generate more than 12,000 high-quality, TaqMan® data points per run, or up to 110,000 data points in an eight-hour workday. Users can also run digital PCR experiments on the instrument using nanofluidic consumables and dedicated analysis software for increased sensitivity and specificity.

“The QuantStudio provides an excellent solution for accurate, high-throughput and cost-effective genotyping, which is critical to the success of research in my laboratory,” said Nathan Treff, Ph.D., Director of Molecular Biology at Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey. “This all-in-one device is a perfect streamlined solution to make rapid progress toward our primary objective of improving the success of in vitro fertilization. The QuantStudio will simplify our workflow and reduce the amount of time spent on generating data.”

Cost Effective, Minimal Hands-On Time

Applications such as pharmacogenomic testing, for example, are enabled at a more cost-efficient price point because of the nanoliter volumes required to conduct experiments on the QuantStudio™ 12K Flex OpenArray® plates – saving both reagent costs and precious samples. Hands-on time to prepare the plates before each experiment is drastically reduced using a new workflow enabled on the fully automated OpenArray® AccuFill™ System, which eliminates manual OpenArray® plate handling and labor-intensive pipetting.

The QuantStudio™ 12K Flex system is also ideally suited for rapid, large-scale pathogen detection applications to quickly screen food samples during public health situations such as the recent Listeria and E. coli outbreaks in the United States and Germany, respectively. For plant breeders, the ability to reliably link biomarkers to desired traits, such as drought-resistance and high yields, is expected to accelerate crop improvement efforts.

Flexible System

Life Technologies’ new flagship PCR instrument eliminates the need to purchase multiple qPCR platforms that take up limited space in the laboratory. The QuantStudio™ 12K Flex system takes an all-in-one approach by accommodating any one of five different interchangeable blocks (OpenArray® plates, TaqMan® Array Card, 384-, 96 fast- and 96-well plates) to match the size and type of experiment.

“The QuantStudio 12K Flex system serves as an ideal complementary platform to next-generation sequencing,” said Mark Stevenson, President and COO of Life Technologies. “While sequencing elucidates the unknown in a genome, the QuantStudio efficiently validates that data through broad screening of limited marker sets -- providing a powerful and flexible tool for researchers performing large-scale genotyping or gene expression experiments on a daily basis.”

Life Technologies Corporation 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.