Life Science Consumables
Company Announcements In May, Invitrogen licensed human embryonic stem cell (hESC) patents from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation for the development of research tools, giving it the right to work with karyotypically normal hESCs. Agilent acquired a license in May from the Broad Institute to commercialize a method for genome partitioning using Agilent’s Oligo Library Synthesis technology. Agilent plans to offer kits containing custom mixtures of long biotinylated RNA molecules that can efficiently capture 5–10 megabases of genomic DNA sample in a tube. Geron granted STEMCELL Technologies a license to its intellectual property for the development of cell culture media and matrix surfaces for primate pluripotent stem cell growth for research applications. In May, Sigma-Aldrich announced that Chief Administrative Office and CFO Michael R. Hogan plans to retire this summer. Becton, Dickinson plans to open a BD Biosciences manufacturing facility in Miami, Florida, to produce cell culture media supplements. GE Healthcare Whatman agreed to distribute GenVault’s GenSolve DNA Recovery Kits in North America. In May, ION Beam Applications SA purchased the remaining 80.1% of Cisbio International from the Institut National des Radioéléments for around €20 million ($27.4 million) in cash and stock. Cisbio had 2007 revenues of nearly €119.2 million ($163.3 million). Cisbio’s provides in vitro medical diagnostics and the HTRF bioassay technology. Millipore appointed Jon DiVincenzo to succeed Dominique Baly as president of its Bioscience Division in January 2009. He is currently vice president, Global Sales and Service, of the Bioscience Division. Product Introductions Invitrogen launched the CELLstart animal origin-free substrate for the attachment and expansion of embryonic, mesenchymal and neural stem cells. Invitrogen introduced the nonradioactive Predictor hERG (Human Ether-a-Go-go Related Gene) Fluorescence Polarization Assay Kit. PerkinElmer released six new AlphaScreen SureFire assays for the detection of full-length kinase activation in cell lysates and complex sample types, bringing its number of AlphaScreen SureFire kits to 28. SureFire detection reagents are developed by TGR BioSciences and exclusively distributed by PerkinElmer. QIAGEN NV and GENEART introduced QIAgenes, a comprehensive set of plasmids that serve as vectors for synthetic protein production in bacteria. Promega launched ProteasMAX Surfactant for more complete digestion prior to protein analysis. SoluLinK introduced NanoLink Streptavidin Magnetic Microspheres.