St. Louis, MO 3/16/10—Sigma-Aldrich has announced an agreement to purchase Ace Animal, a provider of research rodents to the biomedical industry, for an undisclosed amount. Ace Animal will operate as part of Sigma Advanced Genetic Engineering (SAGE) Labs. “With the Ace Animals acquisition, SAGE Labs will be in a better position to offer a greater number of models with the goal of helping researchers understand the functional significance of genes and their relationships to human diseases,” said Dr. Edward Weinstein, director of SAGE Labs. The acquisition expands SAGE Labs’ offerings, particularly of “wild type”, or nonmodified, rats and mice, and positions SAGE Labs to offer contract breeding services. The acquisition is expected to close shortly.