Company Announcements

Eppendorf licensed patents covering gradient technology for thermal cyclers to SensoQuest in September 2014.

Rubicon Genomics named new distributors in October 2014: CliniSciences for France, Spain and North Africa; Nerliens Meszansky for Norway; Shanghai Nanodigmnio Biotechnology for China; and GeneLabs Life Science for Taiwan.

Rubicon Genomics 2014 sales grew 28%.

RainDance Technologies named the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology as a Center of Excellence in October 2014.

Kapa Biosystems announced in December 2014 the addition of a direct sales and support channel for the UK, effective January 1. It formerly worked with Anachem.

SYGNIS signed a distribution agreement with German BioCat.

Product Introductions

Bio-Rad Laboratories introduced PrimePCR Rat Genome Assays for qPCR, wet-lab validated real-time PCR assays, in October 2014.

JN Medsys introduced the Clarity digital PCR system for faster throughput and a simplified workflow. Based on a chip-in-a-tube design, eight reactions can be run in parallel to yield 80,000 partitions per tube strip.

Thermo Fisher Scientific launched in November 2014 the TaqMan Fast Environmental Master Mix Beads, a freeze-dried PCR enzyme formulation. DNA samples can be added directly to the tubes of prealiquotted, ready-to-use reagent.

Chai Biotechnologies announced the Open qPCR, an open-source real-time PCR thermocycler, available for $1,499. It is expected to start shipping in March.

InstantLabs introduced the InstantID Atlantic Blue Crab DNA-verification test, the first in a series of seafood species–identification tests for use with its Hunter portable Real-Time PCR instrument.

New England Biolabs introduced the WarmStart RTx Reverse Transcriptase, a novel thermostable reverse transcriptase specifically designed for nucleic acid detection. It is activated when warmed above 40 °C.

Exiqon released in December 2014 the miRSIGN miR-21 Oncogene assay and the miRSIGN Colon Cancer assay.

In January, SYGNIS introduced the TruePrime Single Cell WGA kit for whole-genome amplification from single cells based on a multiple-displacement-amplification technology that does not need any synthetic random primers.

Promega launched the PowerPlex Fusion 6C System, a six-color, 27-locus multiplex system for forensics applications.

Techne, a Bibby Scientific company, introduced the Prime Pro 48 qPCR system, which supports four-color multiplex reactions.