About 454
Overview
454 Life Sciences, a center of excellence of Roche Applied Science, develops and commercializes the innovative Genome Sequencer™ system for ultra-high-throughput DNA sequencing. Specific applications include de novo sequencing and re-sequencing of genomes, metagenomics, RNA analysis, and targeted sequencing of DNA regions of interest. The hallmarks of 454 Sequencing™ are its simple, unbiased sample preparation and long, highly accurate sequence reads, including paired reads. 454's current system, the Genome Sequencer FLX with GS FLX Titanium series reagents generates 400 million high quality bases per 10 hour instrument run. 454 Sequencing technology has enabled hundreds of peer-reviewed studies in diverse research fields such as cancer and infectious disease research, drug discovery, marine biology, anthropology, paleontology and many more.
About Roche and the Roche Diagnostics Division
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche's personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2008, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested almost 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 45.6 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: www.roche.com.
Timeline
| June 2000 | 454 Life Sciences is founded |
| October 2005 | Release of the Genome Sequencer 20, the first next-generation sequencing system on the market |
| October 2005 | Collaboration agreement signed with Roche Diagnostics |
| December 2005 | 454 Life Sciences Awarded the Wall Street Journal's Gold Medal for Innovation |
| November 2006 | 454 Life Sciences, in collaboration with Svante Paabo, describes in Nature the first million base pairs of the Neanderthal genome and initiates the Neanderthal Genome Project. |
| January 2007 | Release of the Genome Sequencer FLX System |
| March 2007 | Roche Diagnostics completes integration with 454 Life Sciences |
| May 2007 | Complete sequence of Jim Watson published in Nature. First genome to be sequenced for less than $1 million. |
| November 2007 | Announcement of the 100th peer-reviewed publication enabled by 454 Sequencing |
| June 2008 | 454 Joins the 1000 Genome Project, an international effort to build the most detailed map to date of human genetic variation as a tool for medical research |
| September 2008 | Announcement of the 250th peer-reviewed publication enabled by 454 Sequencing |
| October 2008 | Release of Genome Sequencer FLX Titanium Series reagents, featuring 1 million reads at 400 base pairs in length |