The metabolome is the full set of metabolites—the chemical fingerprints left behind by cellular processes—in an organism. The pharmaceutical industry is particularly interested in the potential of metabolomics research, because metabolites can serve as biomarkers for disease states and drug efficacy, and they can reveal toxicity during the drug discovery process. Metabolomics offers instrument manufacturers […]

Budget requests for Science and Technology (S&T) programs in Japanese Fiscal Year (JFY) 2008 (April 2008–March 2009) have been released by the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP). The total amount requested is ¥4,033.2 billion ($35.1 billion), a 14.9% increase from the JFY 2007 budget of ¥3,511.3 billion. The budget request from the Ministry […]

This year’s Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC), which was held at the San Diego Convention Center from October 13 through October 17, was unquestionably the largest show in the event’s 80-year history. The event set all-time records in terms of attendance (19,929), exhibitors (1,017) and floor space (268,405 square feet); all of […]

Santa Clara, CA 10/24/07; San Diego, CA 10/125/07—Affymetrix announced that it has filed new patent lawsuits against Illumina in the US, the UK and Germany, alleging infringement of eight patents. Three of the US patents (Patent Nos. 5,902,723, 6,403,320, and 6,576,424) and the three EU Patents (Patent Nos. 0834575, 0853679 and 0799897) relate to Illumina’s […]

The US is planning to adapt Japan’s policies concerning Chinese food imports. Japan imports 60% of its food supply, with approximately 15% coming from China. According to the Japanese health ministry, government and private laboratories test samples from about 10% of all incoming food shipments, since a 2002 scare involving pesticides in Chinese-grown spinach. Japan […]

The “competitiveness clusters” (pôles de competitivité) initiative, instituted in 2004 with an allocation of €1.5 billion ($1.85 billion) to be spent by the end of 2008, was established in order to develop the commercial potential of innovation. Of this €1.5 billion, €732 million was to be distributed to R&D for projects, €575 million was to […]

Gaithersburg, MD 10/15/07; Indianapolis, IN 10/15/07—Gene Logic has agreed to sell its Genomics assets to Ocimum Biosolutions for $10 million in cash. The Genomics business includes the BioExpress System and ToxExpress System databases, Genesis Enterprise System bioinformatics software and a microarray services business. In 2006, revenues for Gene Logic’s Genomics business declined 57.1% to $24.3 […]

Luminex and Exiqon A/S launched the FlexmiR MicroRNA Mouse/Rat Extension Panel and the FlexmiR MicroRNA Control Set. Kinovate Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Nitto Denko, introduced CarriGene Plates, reagent-precoated transfection plates for in vitro delivery of plasmid DNA to mammalian cells. DiscoveRx released more than 50 PhosphoQuest ELISA assays for detection of functional kinase research […]

Held for the second consecutive year in the heart of US oil country, this year’s ISA exposition in Houston, Texas, met many people’s lowered expectations for the event. Many process analytical instrument vendors opted for smaller booths and some elected to pass up the show altogether. Although attendance and number of exhibitors declined 4% and […]

Last month, Novartis and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced the formation of a research partnership dedicated to continuous manufacturing. Novartis will give MIT $65 million over the next 10 years to establish the program; according to The Boston Globe, $40 million of this funding will come in the first five years. The Novartis-MIT […]