454 Life Sciences was a biotechnology company based in Branford, Connecticut that specialized in high-throughput DNA sequencing.
For their method for low-cost gene sequencing, 454 Life Sciences was awarded the Wall Street Journal's Gold Medal for Innovation in the Biotech-Medical category in 2005.
[8] In May 2007, 454 published the results of Project "Jim": the sequencing of the genome of James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.
[11] The system relied on fixing nebulized and adapter-ligated DNA fragments to small DNA-capture beads in a water-in-oil emulsion.
[12] Genomic DNA was fractionated into smaller fragments (300-800 base pairs) and polished (made blunt at each end).
The sstDNA library was assessed for its quality, and the optimal amount (DNA copies per bead) needed for emPCR is determined by titration.
The bead-deposition process was designed to maximize the number of wells that contain a single amplified library bead.
The four DNA nucleotides were added sequentially in a fixed order across the PicoTiterPlate device during a sequencing run.