Technologies
Life Length’s Telomere Analysis Technologies are the most valuable, versatile and scalable technologies in the market. While some companies offer mean telomere length analyses, Life Length is the only company in the world able to offer a highly scalable technology to measure short telomeres in individual cells from both blood and tissue samples, which is the relevant indicator of telomere dysfunction and cellular aging.
TELOMERE ANALYSIS TECHNOLOGY
TAT® is a proprietary technology that assesses telomere length individually. We measure telomere length using high-content screening, high throughput in situ fluorescence hybridization, providing a comprehensive analysis of the entire distribution of telomere length ranging from the shortest to the longest telomeres, including frequency, mean and median values.
Technology Value
Accurate and reproducible
- Robust results in 384-well plates
- Intra-assay coefficient of variation <5%
Versatile
- Can be performed on any cell type including blood cells, primary tissue cultured cells and stem cells
- In vitro research, pre-clinical and clinical studies
Relevant
- Telomere length distribution, in particular critically short telomeres, is a key parameter in age-related and chronic diseases, stem cell therapies and research, oncology product development, nutraceutical, and cosmetic efficacy testing
Total Reliability
- Five positive control cell lines of established telomere lengths and two negative controls
- Each sample is run in quintuplicate to ensure statistical significance
- Output: customized fully-informative report with telomere length distribution and percentage of short telomeres
- Typically more than 100,000 telomeres are measured per sample
Q-TRAP
Q-TRAP measures telomerase activity in cellular extracts. We detect relative telomerase activity by a modified version of the telomeric repeat amplification protocol coupled with a real-time quantitative PCR analysis (Q-TRAP). The methodology has been optimized and scaled up to the highest standards offering a reliable, sensitive, and rapid determination that can be combined with our TAT® and other biomarkers.
Technology Value
Applicability
- Telomerase activity is a key parameter in age related and chronic diseases, stem cell therapies and research, oncology product development, nutraceutical and cosmetic efficacy testing
Versatile
- Performed on blood cells, primary cultured cells and stem cells from a variety of tissues
- In vitro and in vivo, both in clinical and pre-clinical trial studies
Reproducibility & Scalability
- Robust results in 96-well plates
- Output: customized fully-informative report with relative telomerase activity (RTA)
Telomapping®
Telomapping® is a technology that assesses semi-quantitatively telomere length in tissue samples. We detect relative telomere length by in situ fluorescence hybridization in tissue biopsies. This method retains the advantages of exquisite sensitivity, the depth of data derived from high content screening and the ability to compare, within the same tissue cut, control and test tissue – cancerous, treated, etc.
Technology Value
Accurate and reproducible
- Robust, standardized results in up to 10 samples simultaneously
Versatile
- Can be performed in biopsies from any type of tissue
- Pre-clinical and clinical studies
Output
- Heat map of telomeres
- Semi-quantitative technique
- Telomere variation given relative to each sample
SAMPLE PROCESSING, STORAGE and SHIPPING
Tissue cuts from paraffin fixed biopsies. Thickness should be between 10μm-20μm
Ideally three tissue sections per slide. When comparing normal and test tissue include both on the same slide.
Pack slides, properly wrapped, and ship at room temperature.
TERMINAL REPEAT FRAGMENTATION
TRF is a technology that assesses telomere length from purified DNA of biological samples. This technique reports absolute telomere length using southern blot analysis of fragmented genomic DNA. Average telomere length is calculated using reference DNA size markers. This technique allows telomere length determination when only DNA is available.
Technology Value
Accurate and reproducible
- Robust, standardized results in up to 12 samples simultaneously
Versatile
- Performed on isolated DNA of any biological sample
- In vitro, pre-clinical and clinical trial studies
Resourcefulness
- Sometimes biological material is limited. We have adapted TRF to industry standards
Quality-PCR
Quality Polymerase Chain Reaction can be performed in samples where only DNA is available…
