General Life Science Consumables

Company Announcements

Streck announced several new distribution agreements: Hamdan for Jordan, Innovative Medical Solutions for Kuwait and TK Biotech for Poland.

In August, BioLegend announced construction of a new BioLegend Campus near San Diego, California, which will include a new main building. The Campus is scheduled to be completed in March 2019.

BioIVT (formerly BioreclamationIVT), a provider of biospecimens and related products, acquired Asterand Bioscience in August. Asterand supplies high-quality, well-characterized human tissue and research solutions with a focus on the oncology market.

In August, chemical-intermediates firm Biosynth licensed rights to manufacture and sell chemiluminescent reporter molecules from Tel Aviv University. Biosynth will sell the technology to kit manufacturers. Developed by Professor Doron Shabat, the AquaSpark series of Dioxetane-based probes for use in research and diagnostics applications can be used as single agents, have high efficiency and sensitivity and can work in vivo or ex vivo.

Cell Signaling Technology announced that starting January 2018 it will sell directly in Germany and Austria

Gene-based Consumables

Company Announcements

New England Biolabs joined the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in July as part of the EMBL’s Corporate Partnership Program.

Also in July, New England Biolabs partnered with TTP to offer services for molecular diagnostic technology developers, including product development services spanning instruments, consumables and reagents.

In August, Horizon Discovery, and its partners the Sanger Institute and Eagle Genomics, published a complete, high-quality, well-annotated sequence of its GS Knockout CHO-K1 bioproduction cell line to enable quality-by-design bioproduction cell line development.

Merck KGaA announced in August that the European Patent Office issued a “Notice of Intention to Grant” for its patent application covering the company’s CRISPR technology used in a genomic integration method for eukaryotic cells.

In September, Canon BioMedical named Sanbio as a distributor of the Novallele genotyping assays, controls and reagents in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

DNA Script, a manufacturer of de novo synthetic nucleic acids using an enzymatic technology, announced a Series A funding of $13 million, led by Illumina Ventures and including M Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Merck KGaA. The funding will be used to strengthen DNA Script’s platform in order to manufacture high-quality oligonucleotides faster and more affordably than the current market standard.

In September, Agilent Technologies announced US FDA 501(k) clearance of its GenetiSure Dx Postnatal Assay, its first CGH assay for diagnostic use. The array provides data on CNVs and absence of heterozygosity in genomic DNA obtained from peripheral whole blood in patients who have been referred for chromosomal testing based on clinical presentation. It was previously available only in Europe.

Product Introductions

Empirical Bioscience introduced in July the 2X qPCR Probe Master Mix for probe-based quantitative PCR applications. The Mix can amplify down to 10 copies of human genomic DNA.

In July, Synthego announced the available of modified synthetic sgRNA libraries for arrayed whole human genome CRISPR screening.

Thermo Fisher Scientific introduced in July the Applied Biosystems Axiom Asia Precision Medicine Research Array for research screening initiative. It contains more than 750,000 biomarkers associated with both common and rare diseases for clinical research studies. Fifty thousand custom markers can also be added.

In August, BellBrook Labs released the AptaFluor SAH Methyltransferase Assay, a high-throughput assay for targeting epigenetic pathways, calling it “the first-of-its-kind homogenous assay using aptamers for high-throughput screening. It uses a mix-and-read format with a far red positive TR-FRET readout.

SwissDeCode introduced in September the portable, self-administered DNAFoil  pork DNA test for use in monitoring halal and kosher supply chains.

In September, Bio-Rad Laboratories launched in the US the ZDC multiplex RT-PCR assay, which allows researchers to simultaneously screen samples for Zika, dengue and chikungunya arbovirus RNAs. It features up to five-plex capability and a one-step protocol. The kit can run 200 reactions.

Benson Hill Biosystems released in September CRISPR 3.0, a novel family of Cms1 nucleases, as part of its suite of genomic tools to accelerate crop performance improvements.

Cell-based Consumables

Company Announcements

In September, BioIVT acquired Qualyst Transporter Solutions, which provides in vitro hepatic models and services.

Product Introductions

In August, Miltenyi Biotec released the NK MACS Medium, a human cell culture medium for the cultivation of human natural killer cells.

ibidi launched in September the Fuse-It-siRNA transfection reagent for rapid and efficient gene silencing with the highest biocompatibility. It is based on an endosome-independent method.

Sales/Orders of Note

In August, Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its specifically developed Cell Therapy Systems Dynabeads technology was utilized for Novartis’ Kymriah, the first US FDA-approved CAR-T cell therapy.

Protein-based Consumables

Company Announcements

Antibody provider Proteintech named Uniscience as a distributor for Brazil in May.

In August, Atlas Antibodies named Jon Daicic as CEO. He previously served as acting general manager for BioProcess Downstream Hardware at GE Healthcare.

Product Announcements

TTP Labtech and Abcam partnered to introduce sol-R reagent kits based on TTP’s Sol-R coded beads, which  are designed for secreted protein quantification in multiplexed no-wash immunoassay screens. Abcam is providing antibody technology for the kits.

In September, Vector Laboratories launched the VectaFluor Duet kit offering ready-to-use immunofluorescence double labeling. It features a secondary reagent to detect mouse and rate primary antibodies with green and red DyLight fluorescent dyes and a normal blocking serum.

R&D Systems, a Bio-Techne brand, debuted in September the new XL Cytokine Discovery Luminex High Performance Panel, featuring the capability to simultaneously measure the amount of 35 different analytes.