Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:LIFE) today announced the launch of a new genetic analysis system designed to optimize data quality and deliver increased reliability, performance, quality assurance and ease-of-use specifically for forensic DNA testing laboratories. The Applied Biosystems 3500 Series Genetic Analyzer is the latest advancement in the company’s industry leading line of capillary electrophoresis (CE) DNA sequencing systems, and has been validated to support a specific feature set and workflow for human identification (HID) applications. The company made the announcement at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences 62nd Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.
“Combining the innovation in our next-generation genetic analysis systems with recent improvements in our assay kits will dramatically enhance efficiency and performance across the human identification workflow, and ultimately ease the challenges forensic scientists face in their laboratories every day”
While DNA analysis has achieved broad acceptance from both the public and members of the legal community, common challenges, including cost and time constraints, are still faced by professionals in forensic laboratories. The introduction of the 3500 Series helps forensic scientists better address these challenges by providing an integrated HID system approach and solution, including Applied Biosystems’ validated HID reagents, consumables and software, which enhances productivity and enables easy generation of cost-effective analyses and high-quality data.
The 3500 Series, the next-generation of CE instrumentation, integrates HID analysis steps from instrument set-up to size-called preliminary data review, enabling significantly improved system performance and overall HID workflow efficiency. Hardware enhancements such as improved thermal control and a redesigned polymer pump and delivery system enable faster run times as well as unparalleled precision and accuracy. Integrated data analysis tools provide real-time assessment of data quality to dramatically streamline sample processing. The system’s novel consumable design incorporates the ability to view, track and report critical information with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, and helps enable consistent instrument set-up, performance and maintenance.
As part of the integrated HID whole system solution, Life Technologies also announced the commercialization of a new generation of forensic DNA kits designed to provide enhanced sensitivity, improved performance, and enable faster recovery of interpretable results from a wider range of samples. The AmpFℓSTR® Identifiler® Direct, Identifiler® Plus and NGM™ PCR Amplification Kits combined with the 3500 Series provide an unmatched level of performance, efficiency and data quality.
“Combining the innovation in our next-generation genetic analysis systems with recent improvements in our assay kits will dramatically enhance efficiency and performance across the human identification workflow, and ultimately ease the challenges forensic scientists face in their laboratories every day,” said Leonard Klevan, Ph.D., President of Human Identification at Life Technologies. “By significantly streamlining forensic DNA testing, we anticipate that our tools and technology will play an integral role in solving and preventing a wider variety of violent and non-violent crimes.”
Study unlocks genetic secrets in APOEε4 carriers that could defend against Alzheimer's