Company Announcements

In February, New England Biolabs (NEB) and Synthetic Genomics entered into a licensing agreement. NEB will introduce a master mix based on the Gibson Assembly method, which enables the rapid assembly of multiple DNA fragments using a one-step, isothermal approach.

Eppendorf licensed patents covering gradient technology for thermal cyclers to Agilent Technologies in February.

In February, Roche granted Life Technologies an IVD product license to all of its patents for real-time PCR and other important PCR-related technology in the diagnostic field, as well as reagents and methods for using SYBR Green I technology, melting curve analysis for real-time PCR and rights to use high-resolution melting curve analysis technology.

In March, WaferGen appointed Ivan Trifunovich, PhD, president and CEO. He is also president and CEO of Helicos Biosciences.

Product Introductions

Biometra introduced the TProfessional TRIO thermocycler, featuring three independent thermocyclers in one housing and a parallel throughput of up to 144 samples.

PlateCentric Solutions, a division of Biodirect, launched the compact and easy-to-use Astec thermal cycler, featuring four end-user changeable thermal blocks.

In February, Bioline, a Meridian Bioscience company, introduced the SensiFAST HRM Kit for High Resolution Melt curve analysis. SensiFAST HRM does not require labeled oligonucleotides probes.

Swift Biosciences released a new line of myT Primer reagents for qPCR for the detection of key cancer mutations. The first product is myT BRAF, which includes reagents to assess up to 28 samples.

In April, RainDance Technologies announced the new RainDrop Digital PCR System, for which a First Access Program will begin this summer. Based on the RainStorm picodroplet technology, the System is capable of generating more than a billion reactions in a single day and features a two-color and varying probe-intensity method that is capable of multiplexing up to 10 markers.

Life Technologies introduced in April the TaqMan Mutation Detection Assays, which are designed to detect an additional 241 of the most common mutations in 21 cancer genes. They are based on castPCR (competitive allele-specific TaqMan PCR). More than six million TaqMan assays have been shipped.

Ingenuity Systems and Life Technologies released Ingenuity iReport for Real-Time PCR optimized for TaqMan Gene Expression Assays, which is an interactive report that extends analysis beyond Ct or fold changes to an accurate and dynamic view of the biological information most relevant to a gene expression experiment.

Ahram Biosystems launched the Palm PCR F1-12 portable PCR system, priced in the mid-$3,000.