Company Announcements

New Zealand–based ZyGEM, a provider of enzyme-based reagents, opened its US headquarters in Solana Beach, California, in January.

Invitrogen was named the exclusive provider of fluorescent miRNA microarray labeling kits using Genispheres’ 3DNA dendrimer signal amplification technology.

Sigma-Aldrich and MorphoSys AG will design, produce and distribute unique recombinant antibodies.

In February, Exiqon A/S acquired Oncotech, a US supplier of extreme drug resistance diagnostics tests for cancer, for $45 million.

Exiqon A/S’s 2007 revenues grew 15% to DKK 49.5 million ($9.1 million). Research product sales rose 84% to DKK 38.5 million ($7.1 million). Operating loss increased from DKK $24.9 million ($4.6 million) to DKK 67.8 million ($12.5 million) (see page 12).

Ascent Scientific opened an office in New Jersey.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals granted Shanghai GenePharma a license to manufacture and provide RNAi research products and services under the Kreutzer-Limmer patents family.

Product Introductions

AbD Serotec, a MorphoSys AG company, introduced the LYNX Rapid Conjugation Kits for labeling primary antibodies.

Promega launched the CytoTox-Glo Cytoxicity Assay in February.

Miltenyi Biotech added the former Strathmann Biotec AG’s cytokine selection to its MACS Cell Culture product line.

Miltenyi Biotech released the MACS Control Antibody Cocktails for the evaluation of cell separation efficiency and purity by flow cytometry.

In March, Sequenom introduced the Cancer EpiPanel for high-throughput methylation profiling of cancer-associated genes.

In March, Millipore launched the MILLIPLEX MAP (multianalyte profiling) portfolio, combining the Beadlyte and LINCOplex product lines.

In March, Thermo Fisher Scientific released Thermo Scientific Dharmacon Accell siRNA, a novel form of siRNA that is absorbed directly by cells without the use of conventional delivery systems.

Invitrogen released the BLOCK-iT HiPerform Lentiviral Polll miR RNAi Expression System with Emerald Green Fluorescent Protein and the BLOCK-iT Inducible Polll miR RNAi Expression System.

In a joint effort with Sunset Molecular Discovery, Sigma-Aldrich added 1,300 bioactive small molecules to its gene-based search tool.

Applied Biosystems introduced the SOLid Small RNA Expression Kit for easier sample preparation.