Life Technologies Introduces Two Bioinformatics Offerings for Cancer Researchers

Life Technologies Corporation has announced the introduction of two bioinformatics offerings - Oncomine® Gene Browser and Ion Reporter™ Oncomine® Workflow - that will allow cancer researchers new avenues of access to one of the largest genomics databases available, compiled by the former Compendia Bioscience.

Both products will be featured in Life Technologies' booth (#2222) at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR 2013), April 6 - 10 in Washington, D.C.

Oncomine® Gene Browser
Oncomine® Gene Browser enables cancer researchers to characterize their genes of interest across multiple parameters, including gene expression, DNA copy number and mutation data, from thousands of cancer patients' genetic data (exomes and transcriptomes).

The Oncomine® Gene Browser consists of a simple, dynamic web portal and provides a comprehensive gene summary at a moderate price point.

It is ideal for researchers working with small numbers of genes and enables the survey of individual genes across thousands of de-identified clinical cases and dozens of different cancer types and subtypes.

The new product introduction exemplifies Life Technologies' commitment to offering high-value products in the bioinformatics space across a range of price options and demonstrates the company's ability to serve all customers in the cancer research space, including basic, translational and clinical scientists, as well as those working in the biotech and pharma industry.

"Oncomine® Gene Browser is a new product for the academic and smaller pharma scientist that will enable them to be competitive in research and drug development," said Dan Rhodes, head of medical bioinformatics for Life Technologies.

Rhodes continued, "These investigators will now have access to data that have been collected and curated over the course of a decade, drawing from hundreds of clinical studies and representing millions of dollars worth of experiments, which will allow them to design more focused experiments and make faster progress."

"Oncomine® Gene Browser constitutes a unique solution for scientists working in the drug discovery and companion diagnostics space," said Ronnie Andrews, president of Medical Sciences at Life Technologies.

Andrews continued, "When combined with Life's broad portfolio of instrument systems for cancer research, including our Ion Torrent semiconductor based sequencing system and AmpliSeq Cancer Panels, researchers now have an extremely robust system which will provide markedly enhanced selection criteria to more rapidly advance their research."

Ion Reporter™ Oncomine® Workflow
The Ion Reporter™ Oncomine® Workflow streamlines cancer research by combining its proven Oncomine® platform with Ion Reporter™ Software. It provides access to curated next generation sequencing data from 4,000 matched tumor and normal pairs and is designed to assist with interpreting variants from data obtained on the Ion Torrent™ semi-conductor sequencing platforms from Life Technologies.

Using the Ion Reporter™ Oncomine® workflow with Ion AmpliSeq™ cancer panels, such as the Cancer Hotspot Panel and the Comprehensive Cancer Panel, enables researchers to move from sample to sequence to driver mutations in a day, rather than weeks or months. The Ion Reporter™ Oncomine® Workflow will be available at no charge for an introductory period, making this premier cancer bioinformatics capability accessible to any scientist.

"This is a major advance because cancer sequencing experiments often yield hundreds of variants, among which only a small fraction are true cancer driver mutations," said Dan Rhodes, head of Medical Science Informatics for Life Technologies.

"Previously researchers were faced with cumbersome literature searches or complex bioinformatics approaches to discern drivers from passenger mutations. The thousands of patient tumor samples driving the Oncomine Analysis provide both context and confidence for the Gain of Function or Loss of Function classification. This allows any cancer researcher to immediately identify likely driver mutations in their sample."

Ion Reporter™ Software is a suite of bioinformatics tools that enables users to quickly identify and report on biologically relevant mutations. Ion Reporter™ Software streamlines data analysis by providing simple tools for mapping, calling and annotating variants. The Oncomine® platform is a product of Compendia Bioscience®, a preeminent cancer bioinformatics company, which was purchased by Life Technologies in October 2012.

"Next-generation sequencing of cancer samples identifies many potentially important variants, particularly if matched germline DNA is not sequenced in parallel," said Scott Tomlins, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Pathology, University of Michigan. "The addition of Oncomine® annotations to Ion Reporter™ Software provides the best way to prioritize those mutations that are likely cancer drivers, based on well-curated supporting evidence across cancer types."

Life Technologies acquired Compendia Bioscience® in October 2012. Data compiled by Compendia comprises one of the world's largest and most comprehensive sets of mutation profiles, gene expression data and cellular biomarkers that have been gathered from more than 71,000 cancer patients. Oncomine®, a web-based analytics tool, integrates high-throughput cancer profiling data across a large volume of cancer types that provides researchers with valuable insights into biology, regulation, pathways, drug response, and patient populations.