Company Announcements

Caprotec bioanalytics GmbH named Funakoshi as the exclusive distributor of its research products in Japan.

Agilent announced in February that it will exclusively distribute and provide marketing and support for Protein Discovery’s PPS Silent Surfactant, an acid-cleavable, zwitterionic detergent for sample preparation prior to MS.

In February, OriGene Technologies announced that it raised $6.5 million in private equity financing, which was used to acquire the assets of Shenzhen P&A Biotech, a Chinese manufacturer and provider of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to the research market. As a result, OriGene established a mAb-production outsourcing center.

Millipore licensed 250 manually created pathway maps from GeneGo for its new online Interactive Biological Pathway Tool.

Embryome Sciences, a subsidiary of BioTime, gained rights from the Reproductive Genetics Institute of Chicago, Illinois, to market new human embryonic stem cell lines, with an initial selection of 10.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that the RNAi Global Initiative added its 36th and 37th members: the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and the University of Leiden in Amsterdam.

In March, StemCells, a provider of tissue-derived stem and progenitor cells for therapeutic uses, agreed to acquire the operating subsidies and certain related assets of Stem Cell Sciences for 2,650,000 shares and $715,000 in cash. Assets include: cell technologies; infrastructure for providing cell-based assays; gene-insertion technology; the SC Proven media-formulation and reagent business; patents; and existing business and licensing relationships. The transaction is expected to close in May.

Product Introductions

Applied Biosystems introduced the magnetic particle–based PrepFiler Forensic DNA Extraction Kit, featuring a streamlined, easy to automate workflow.

Promega introduced the StemElite ID System, based on short tandem repeat analysis technology, for improving human cell–line authentication.

Promega released the new pmirGLO Dual-Luciferase miRNA Target Expression Vector, one of nearly 50 luciferase reporter vectors offered by the company.

Carestream Molecular Imaging launched the KODAK X-SIGHT Western Kits for performing western blots. The kits each include three X-SIGHT Nanosphere Conjugates and are available in three wavelengths.

Metabolon released the MFocus Tissue-Based Sarcosine Test for measuring prostate cancer aggressiveness.

Sigma-Aldrich introduced the MISSION LentiPlex Pooled Human and Murine shRNA Libraries for rapid, genome-wide RNAi screening in a pooled lentiviral format. The Libraries are based on the shRNA collection of the RNAi Consortium.