General Life Science Consumables

Company Announcements

Neogen appointed in July John Adent as CEO. He most recently served as CEO of Animal Health International. Former CEO James Herbert will remain as chairman.

Streck announced in September an exclusive distribution agreement with ORGENTEC SASU for France.

In October, Vector Laboratories named MJSBioLynx as its exclusive Canadian distributor.

Meridian Bioscience announced in October that it expects fiscal 2017 revenues to increase 2% to $200.5 million. Fourth quarter sales are forecast to rise 5%, with 14% growth for the Life Science segment and 3% growth for the Diagnostic segment.  Fiscal 2018 revenues are expected to increase 3%–6% to $207–$212 million, including mid- to high single digit growth for the Bioline molecular component business. In July and October, the FDA issued the company warning letters in connection with its Magellan Diagnostics‘ blood lead testing systems. Magellan responded this month that it has initiated remediation activities.

In October, All Awareness Technology announced an exclusive distribution agreement with Vesta Tajhiz Part for Iran.

Gene-based Consumables

Company Announcements

In September, Lucigen, which offers products and services for life science research, entered into a License and Knowledge Transfer Agreement with Illumina to manufacture and sell the entire Epicentre product line (see IBO 12/15/16).

Desktop Genetics, which uses artificial intelligence to enable scientists to capitalize on genome engineering technology, announced in October a £1.5 million ($1.9 million) investment round.

In October, Synthego announced it will manufacture and distribute synthetic guide RNA products for Thermo Fisher Scientific. The products will be sold under the Invitrogen TrueGuide brand.

Genome engineering solutions firm Synthego announced in October an investment from Intel Capital. This is Intel Capital’s first financing in bioinformatics related to the CRISPR workflow.

In October, Double Helix Technologies (Doulix), a provider of products for biological engineering, collaborated with Agilent Technologies to promote Agilent’s SureVector cloning kits through Double Helix’s web platform.

SimPath announced in October the licensing of a cloning system developed by the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  The company will develop the method into a multigene DNA assembly kit and software package for customers who use synthetic biology techniques. The method offers flexible cloning with lower biodesign restrictions, and can be automated so that multiple genes can be connected seamlessly.

In October, MilliporeSigma announced that the Canadian Patent Office has issued a “Notice of Allowance” for the company’s patent application covering its CRISPR technology used in a genomic-integration method for eukaryotic cells.

Product Introductions

In September, Horizon Discovery launched genome-wide CRISPRi (interference) and CRISPRa (acitivation) screening services. CRISPRi and CRISPRa reduce or increase, rather than eliminate, gene expression.

Cellecta launched in October CRISPRa and CRISPRi genome-wide human and mouse pooled screening libraries, as well as added a Mouse Genome-Wide CRISPR Knockout Library. The CRISPRa and CRISPRi libraries features a single-module format and average five sgRNAs per gene promoter region.

In October, Bruker introduced the CE-IVD marked Fungiplex Candida diagnostic assay, a multiplex real-time PCR test, which tests for the most common pathogens associated with invasive candidiasis and does not require any culture steps. Bruker also released the MICRONAUT-AM (AntiMycotics), a test plate for the automated or manual antifungal susceptibility testing of yeasts from cultures. Both products are from the recently acquired MICRONAUT Diagnostika business (see IBO 9/30/17).

Sales/Orders of Note

In October, Twist Bioscience expanded its supply agreement with Ginkgo Bioworks to include genes up to 5 kb in in length.

Cell-based Consumables

Company Announcements

Oxford BioMedica announced that it is the lead partner in a two-year, £2 million ($3 million) project as part of a consortium to explore and apply novel advanced technologies to further evolve its suspension LentiVector platform for gene and cell therapy manufacturing. Consortium members are the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, Stratophase and Synthace. The project is cofounded by Innovate UK.

In September, the Gene Editing Institute of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute at Christiana Care Health Systems announced it will exclusively provide genetically modified cell lines and services to Analytical Biological Services, a supplier of cells and tissues, under a three-year agreement.

In September, STEMCELL Technologies signed an exclusive agreement to commercialize regenerative medicine firm Propagenix’s EpiX technology, a cell culture medium for expansion of tissue-resident epithelial stems cells without any genetic manipulation.

Scientist.com and Astarte Biologics announced a partnership in October under which Scientist.com will offer online access to Astarte’s immune cell products and research services.

In October, nanoelectronic and digital technology firm Imec has joined the EU’s 2-year, €0.5 million ($0.5 million) ORgan-on-CHip In Development (ORCHID) project, as part of a consortium of academic and private partners, including 6 research institutes. The project will facilitate the dialogue and documents towards accelerating the development of prototypes of organs-on-chips, validating cell systems that mimic diseased or healthy human tissues, and implementation of this technology by a broad group of potential users.

Product Introductions

In September, Thermo Fisher Scientific launched the Gibco B-27 Plus Neuronal Culture System, a media system designed to enable reliable and biologically relevant in vitro neuronal cell models by increasing survival of neurons.

Irving Scientific introduced in September the PRIME-XV Dendritic Cell Maturation chemically defined medium for immunotherapy applications. It enables the differentiation of monocytes into immature dendritic cells and subsequence maturation in dendritic cells.

Protein-based Consumables

Company Announcements

In October, Abcam announced that Chairman Murray Hennessy will resign in November, having accepted a CEO position.

Product Introductions

ArcticZymes released in September the SAN HQ ELISA immunoassay product, which is targeted at detecting DNA contamination during biomanufacturing.

Promega launched in August the new bioluminescent HiBiT Protein Tagging System for measuring protein trafficking or protein secretion. It features an antibody-free protocol and requires only a luminometer for detection.

In September, Genovis named Chinese Beijing Zhongyuan as a Chinese distributor.

Sales/Orders of News

In October, Bio-Techne announced in October an agreement to supply research antibodies under “Lot 1: Antibodies of the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium, Antibodies and Sera Framework Agreement for the UK Higher Education Segment.” The Framework serves 6 major UK-based academic consortia and supports over 100 research centers. The agreement runs through June 30, 2019, with an option to extend a further two years. This is the first collaborative agreement of its kind.