Life Technologies Announces Agreement to Acquire Ion Torrent

Life Technologies recently announced an agreement to acquire Ion Torrent. Ion Torrent has revolutionized DNA sequencing by enabling a direct connection between chemical and digital information through the use of proven semiconductor technology. Ion Torrent's proprietary chip-based sequencing represents a new paradigm in DNA sequencing by using PostLight™ sequencing technology, the first of its kind to eliminate the cost and complexity associated with the extended optical detection currently used in all other sequencing platforms. The first product using this technology will be the Personal Genome Machine (PGM), an easy-to-use, highly-accurate benchtop instrument optimal for mid-scale sequencing projects, such as targeted and microbial sequencing. The instrument is currently available through an early access program and will be launched later this year. Subsequent products will benefit from cutting edge semiconductor fabrication technologies that can expand throughput at an accelerated pace, thereby dramatically lowering the cost to sequence a genome.