Company Announcements

Axiogenesis AG in-licensed the Yamanaka patent portfolio from iPS Academia for iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and other cell types.

Sigma-Aldrich entered into a five-year agreement with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to develop methods to measure several potential biomarkers for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease using plasma samples. Sigma Life Science expects to develop antibody reagents for each identified target biomarker and incorporate the reagents into a multiplex, high-throughput platform to measure the proteins of interest.

Sigma-Aldrich Sigma Life Science and SwitchGear Genomics will jointly develop and distribute a novel miRNA target reporter system based on Sigma’s lentiviral technology that does not require reporter cloning.

Sigma-Aldrich entered into a licensing agreement with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to expand the range of boronic acid surrogates in order to enhance the syntheses of small molecules.

Cedarlane agreed to distribute Pfenex’s reagent proteins in Canada and the US.

In August, Ensign-Bickford Industries’ EB Analytics subsidiary acquired Envirologix, a supplier of agricultural test kits and readers.

Product Introductions

Affymetrix released in July the QuantiGene ViewRNA Assay formats. The QuantiGene ViewRNA Assay is capable of multiplex gene expression in 96- or 384-well formats for high-throughput phenotypic and reporter gene compound screening without constructing reporter cell lines. The single-plex tissue assay is an alternative to immunohistochemistry.

In August, KIYATEC launched the KIYAKUBE Independent Chambers, the first in a series of KIYAKUBE 3D Cell Culture Plasticware that accommodates all commonly used scaffold/matrix materials and scaffold forms.

PharmaDiagnostics NV introduced the SoPRano CA1 assay kit, which allows users to couple their own proteins to SoPRano gold nanoparticles and build their own assays for label-free screening on a standard plate reader.

Protein Discovery released the UPX Universal Protein Extraction Kit for unbiased, high-yield detergent extraction of proteins from cells and tissues.

Promega now offers the FuGENE HD Transfection Reagent for gene delivery to all life science and applied markets, so there are no licensing requirements.

Sigma Life Science released a range of engineered mammalian cell lines, including immortalized cell lines for a broad spectrum of applications, based on its CompoZr zinc finger nuclease technology.

Epigentek Group released two new MethylFlash Methylated DNA Quantification Kits: one is for a colorimetric procedure, and one is for a fluorometric procedure.