Company Announcements

RUCDR Infinite Biologics was named a RainDance Center of Excellence in June.

Thermo Fisher Scientific in July signed an exclusive agreement with NewLab Engineering, a subsidiary of COPAN Italia, to distribute Card Processing Automation technology for preparing DNA samples for human identification in forensic, paternity and research labs.

Under an OEM agreement with DORNIER-LTF, BIOTECON Diagnostics will distribute an automated solution for the food and feed, and environmental sectors.

WaferGen Bio-systems uplisted its stock on August 22, transferring its shares from an over-the-counter listing to the NASDAQ. The company also announced a public offering of common stocks and warrants for estimated net proceeds of $18 million.

Product Introductions

Bio-Rad Laboratories expanded in May its line of PrimePCR probe assays for Droplet Digital PCR, adding 56 assays for mutation detection and 109 CNV assays.

Bio-Rad Laboratories introduced in June the SsoAdvanced PreAmp Supermix and PrimePCR PreAmp Assays for target-specific preamplification of limited templates.

Bio-Rad Laboratories released the SsoAdvanced Universal Inhibitor-Tolerant SYBR Green Supermix for obtaining reproducible, optimal-quality qPCR data from the most challenging samples.

In August, Bio-Rad Laboratories introduced the SingleShot family of cell-lysis RT-qPCR kits that allow researchers to obtain data directly from cultured cells without the need for a separate RNA-purification step.

Thermo Fisher Scientific launched in June the Thermo Scientific Animal Genotypes Panels, multiplex PCR systems for coamplification of microsatellite markers for STR genotyping.

In August, Analytik Jena introduced the TAdvanced, the first model in a new series of Biometra thermal cyclers. It features a new electronics system and redesigned operating software. Six block types are available.

Primerdesign launched in August the solid-state genesig q16 real-time PCR machine, priced at $6,500. Also released was a catalog of over 400 applied DNA testing kits.

GE Healthcare Life Science released the illustra Single Cell GenomiPhi DNA amplification kit for wholly amplifying genomic DNA from as little as a single cell, generating micrograms of high-quality DNA.

In September, Agilent Technologies introduced the AriaMx System, a modular real-time PCR system featuring easily changeable optics cartridges for genotyping via high-resolution melt, gene-expression analysis, pathogen detection and a variety of complex research applications.