Life Science Instruments
Company Announcements
Magnetic Insight, a developer of magnetic particle imaging, announced in July that it had secured an oversubscribed seed round of $3 million, led by Sand Hill Angels.
For fiscal 2016 ending April 30, sales for Scientific Digital Imaging advanced 21.8% to £8.5 million ($12.7 million) (see IBO 7/31/16). Revenue growth benefited from the acquisition of Sentek (see IBO 11/15/15) as well as increased demand for imaging products in North America. Adjusted operating profit climbed 88.6% to £0.8 million ($1.2 million).
Second quarter sales for NanoString Technologies jumped 73.2% to $22.6 million (see IBO 8/15/16), including $5.1 million in Collaboration revenue, which grew more than ninefold. Product and Service revenue climbed 39.9% to account for 77% of sales due to strong instrument and consumables demand, as well as expanded Prosigna IVD kit revenue, which more than doubled. Operating loss narrowed 16.4% to $9.6 million. The company raised its 2016 sales range outlook by $3 million to $89–$93 million to account for increased Collaboration revenue.
In September, NanoString Technologies appointed Kirk Malloy, PhD, to its Board, increasing the Board to seven members. He is founder and principal at BioAdvisors.
In August, BioNano Genomics announced an agreement to codevelop with Berry Genomics a next generation mapping system and assays for CFDA-approved clinical use in China for detection of chromosomal structural variations.
Sample6 announced in August that it closed a $12.7 million Series C funding round, bringing total investments to $32 million. Sample6 provides food pathogen–detection systems utilizing phage-based luminescence.
In August, Agena Bioscience certified Genelex, a medication and pharmacogenetic testing service, as a service provider of its MassARRAY technology.
In September, Fluidic Analytics announced it raised $7 million in Series B financing for commercializing the Flow Mk-1 system for protein quantitation. Scheduled to be released this year, the system combines microfluidic technology with advanced sample handling and cloud computing methods.
Advanced Analytical Technologies announced in September the opening of a French subsidiary at the Genopole Bio-Cluster, just south of Paris.
In September, Gyros Protein Technologies opened an office in Tokyo, Japan. Starting in January 2017, the office will replace support previously provided under a distribution agreement with GE Healthcare.
Product Introductions
In July, PathSensors launched new diagnostic plant pathogen assays using its CANARY (Cellular Analysis and Notification of Antigen Risks and Yields) biosensor technology to detect the pathogens Phytophthora and Citrus Leprosis.
In August, AYOXXA Biosystems and Märzhäuser Wetzlar released the fluorescence-based AYOXXA Reader AR01, a dedicated system for analysis of AYOXXA’s LUNARIS Multiplex beads-on-a-chip assays.
ENDRA Life Sciences introduced in September the Nexus 128+ preclinical photoacoustic CT system for quantifying molecular probe uptake and tumor vasculature. It features twice the photoacoustic sensitivity as the Nexus 128.
In September, Aspect Imaging and Seoul National University’s Department of Nuclear Medicine introduced a permanent-magnet simultaneous PET/MRI solution for preclinical research. It combines their respective M7 compact MRI and SimPET PET insert. The solution is available for $499,000 until the end of the year and for $699,000 afterwards.
Also in September, Aspect Imaging launched a new animal transport system allowing for colocalization between 3D optical and MRI data. It is compatible with Aspect systems as well as with PerkinElmer’s IVIS Spectrum CT system.
In September, Bruker launched the SkyScan 1276 microCT, featuring a pixel size as low as 2.8 µm and a scanning cycle of 3.9 sec.
NanoTemper Technologies introduced in September three new nanoDSF software packages for advanced protein stability testing: PR.ThermoControl for investigating thermal unfolding; PR.ChemControl for chemical unfolding data acquisition and analysis; and PR.TimeControl for easier advanced protein-stability testing.
Reichert Technologies launched in September redesigned software for its Reichert4SPR system, which removes the need for training and reduces experiment set-up time.
In September, GE Healthcare Life Sciences introduced the Typhoon biomolecular imagers, the next generation range of Typhoon FLA scanners for phosphor imaging, RGB fluorescence, NIR and optical density measurement, featuring sensitivity down to 3 pg of protein.
In October, ViroCyt, a Sartorius firm, released the ViroTag EV71 kit for precise quantification of the virus during a one minute analysis. It is for use with the Virus Counter 3000.