Bio Saga Blog - A Chronicle of Life Sciences & Informatics

In conjunction with the  COST Action Training School  SeqAhead is organizing a one-day workshop on "Next Generation Sequencing: What´s Next?". The workshop will focus on future developments in NGS and point out the success the technology has in modern biology research. The programme include 2 keynote lectures, selected oral presentations and presentations from industry and 
technology specialists such as SciLife, BGI, Illumina, Pacific Biosciences, Ion Torrent and Applied Biosystems/SOLiD. Do you wish to know more?

DNA sequencing’s first attempt at a personal-computer-like console is about to get a whole lot faster. The Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM), launched with much fanfare (and  a Forbes cover ) in December, will be 100 times more powerful than it was at launch by the third quarter, according to Life Technologies, the $3 billion life sciences company that makes it. Life Technologies' Personal Genome Machine That means that the PGM will be able to sequence 1 billion letters of DNA code in two hours, making it much more competitive with a rival machine, the MiSeq, developed by Illumina, which now dominates the sequencing business. Perhaps more importantly, this leap would fulfill the promise made by Ion Torrent founder Jonathan Rothberg, who has promised that because his device relies on the same kind of semiconductor factories used to make Xboxes and iPods its performance will be able to improve 10-fold every six months. As he told me last year: “There isn’t a technology that w...

Life Technologies announced after the close of the market Tuesday that it will acquire sequencing technologies startup Ion Torrent Systems for $375 million in cash and stock. The total value of the deal could rise by another $350 million if certain technical and time-based milestones are met through 2012. Ion Torrent has developed the Personal Genome Machine, a benchtop instrument that is currently being used by early-access customers and will be launched later this year at an entry cost of less than $100,000. The system will be "optimal for mid-scale sequencing projects, such as targeted and microbial sequencing. The transaction is expected to be dilutive by $.02 for Life Tech's earnings per share in 2010, and neutral to earnings in 2011. It is expected to be accretive in 2012 and beyond. Life Tech said that its EPS guidance for FY 2010 remains unchanged at $3.35 to $3.50. The firms expect to close the transaction in the fourth quarter of this year. in early Wednesday trade ...

CLC Bio today said that it, along with partners Ion Torrent Systems and Aarhus University Hospital, have received a $2 million grant from the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation to support a molecular diagnostics collaboration. Under the three-year alliance, the partners aim to develop and integrated hardware and software solution for molecular diagnostics that will utilize high-throughput sequencing. According to CLC Bio, the partners aim to provide faster and more precise DNA-based diagnostics. Earlier this year, Ion Torrent unveiled its Personal Genome Machine, an electronic sequencer last week that reads DNA on a semiconductor chip by measuring the release of hydrogen ions as nucleotides get incorporated by DNA polymerase. The PGM sequencer is a desktop instrument that will cost only $50,000. The Ion PGM sequencer does a single run in about an hour or two. The collaboration will lead to an IT solution that can be used for molecular diagnostics research and for clinical ...