Life Technologies Names First Group in Centers of Excellence Program

By Bio-IT World Staff 

 

September 19, 2013 | Life Technologies has named its first Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Center of Excellence—an initiative to establish a global alliance comprised of leading centers capable of running the most-advanced, NGS-based oncology panels for clinical research. Life Technologies hopes to spur a global collaborative effort among the Centers of Excellence members to further advance screening methods in clinical research samples.

 

TriCore Reference Laboratories, based in Albuquerque, NM, was named a regional Center of Excellence. TriCore has entered the agreement in collaboration with the Pathology Department of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, with which it already shares several initiatives. 

As a Life Technologies NGS Center of Excellence, TriCore will provide Life's most-advanced NGS Oncology Panels to clinical researchers in oncology. The panels are designed to identify genetic mutations in research samples that can serve as potential drug targets suitable for further studies. Life Technologies stresses that their NGS oncology panels and Ion Torrent sequencers are for research use only, not for use in diagnostic procedures.

 

"This alliance fits with TriCore's commitment to oncology services and will allow us to provide greater value to our clients," said Michael Crossey, TriCore's interim CEO and executive medical director in a statement. "The results we generate through next-generation sequencing will be used to elucidate new drug targets with the potential to guide therapeutic options more efficiently in the future."

 

In the same statement, Mark Gardner, head of Business Development & Companion Diagnostics at Life Technologies, said: "TriCore has a history of leadership in oncology that is fueled by its forward-thinking approach to advanced technology adoption, such as the use of AmpliSeq panels and Ion Torrent sequencing for cancer research. We welcome this collaboration in support of its clinical research efforts as precision medicine comes online in the next few years."