Company Announcements

Michael E. Falk resigned for personal reasons from Cellular Dynamics International’s Board in August.

In August, JSR became a minority owner in SCIVAX Life Sciences and will develop and expand SCIVEX’s 3D cell culture business and distribute products.

AMSBIO agreed to distribute Sanguine BioSciences’ biospecimen collection products in Europe.

ATCC announced in August the creation of the Biomaterial Contributor Network and has signed material deposit agreements with over 30 leading institutions. The Network will make new microbial strains and cell lines available to the research community.

In September, Sigma Life Science licensed its CompoZr Zinc Finger Nuclease technology to Horizon Discovery.

Taconic entered into a marketing and sales agreement for Medicyte’s human upcyte Heptocyte products.

Product Introductions

Agilent and SomaLogic began to place SomaLogic’s SOMAscan proteomic assay, which employs custom Agilent microarrays, into academic and contract research centers.

In August, Molecular Devices launched the Fura-2 QBT Calcium Kit, which combines the calcium indicator Fura-2 with its proprietary masking technology to create a ratiometric fluorescence–based assay.

EMD Millipore added the human recombinant ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) enzyme to its Upstate kinase enzyme portfolio.

Epigentek debuted in August its Multiplex Assay Kit for simultaneously studying up to 21 post-translational histone H3 modifications in a 96-well microplate in less than three hours.

Sigma Life Science introduced Sigma CRISPRs, an inexpensive mammalian genome editing tool suitable for screening and exploratory studies. It is packaged in a single plasmid vector and can be custom designed online.

In August, Hepregen launched the Human HepatoPac Kit for use in metabolite identification and profiling.

In September, Hepregen released the Rat HepatoPac kits for metabolite identification and profiling.

BellBrook Labs launched a new Transzyme Methyltransferase Assay kit for EZH2, which combines its Transcreener HTS assay technology with Reaction Biology’s purified EZH2 enzyme to provide a complete methyltransferase assay solution.

In September, Abcam launched a range of SimpleStep ELISA kits, consisting of single-wash, colorimetric sandwich ELISAs.

Genovis’s GeccoDots subsidiary launched a FeoDot Easy Label nanoparticle that serves as a contrast agent in MRI, PET/single-photon emission computed tomography, optical imaging and ultrasound systems.