Company Announcements

Biosearch Technologies entered into a new licensing agreement in August, extending QIAGEN’s existing rights to Scorpions primer assays to include the right to manufacture, catalog and sell them into the research, applied and infectious disease–testing markets. QIAGEN also gained rights to market labeled probes based on Biosearch’s Black Hole Quencher dyes for qPCR assays in all applied testing and in vitro diagnostic field.

Omscientia entered into a distribution agreement in August to offer Kyratec Life Science’s line of PCR and real-time qPCR instruments in the US and Canada.

NuGEN Technologies joined the Academy for Medical Development and Collaboration’s Vendor Partnership Program in September.

In October, WaferGen Biosystems named Gary P. Schroth, PhD, to the new position of senior vice president, Genomics Research and Applications. He was previously senior director, Research and Development, at Illumina.

Product Introductions

Life Technologies introduced the Applied Biosystems Cell Culture Rapid Methods Program to streamline real-time PCR detection of Mycoplasma, Vesivirus 2117 and Mouse Minute Virus contamination of mammalian cell culture–based biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

Life Technologies launched the MicroSEQ E. coli 0157:H7 assay, which can be run in as little as eight hours.

Life Technologies released TaqMan Fast Advanced Master Mix and TaqMan Fast Virus 1-Step Master Mix for accelerating the process of real-time qPCR.

Bio-Rad Laboratories launched the SsoFast EvaGreen control assay kit for verifying real-time PCR instrument performance.

Idaho Technology released the new RAZOR Simulant Training Kit, which provides functional biodetection training for RAZOR EX and RAZOR operators.

Pall introduced the GeneDisc Rapid Microbiology System, a qPCR platform for rapid microbiology analysis for pharmaceutical manufacturers. The first assay is a Specified Microorganism Test.

Thermo Fisher Scientific released the Thermo Scientific Piko thermal cycler, featuring fast ramping rates, and the Thermo Scientific Arktik thermal cycler, featuring three interchangeable blocks.

BJS Biotechnologies launched the UF1 thermal cycler, which utilizes a low-cost, single-use consumable that combines the microtiter plate, heat exchange block and attached heaters for results in five to six minutes. The low-cost system will be introduced in Europe in early 2011.

In October, Exiqon A/S released online software for the design of custom qPCR assays for miRNA quantification based on its Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) detection technology. It also released new software for the design of LNA probes for mRNA detection by in situ hybridization.