Basel, Germany 4/23/13; London, UK 4/23/13—Roche has announced that it is dissolving its Applied Science business, part of its Diagnostics Division, and integrating the product lines into other Diagnostics Business Areas. A new unit will be established to focus solely on sequencing, including the current sequencing business, but the company will cease its sequencer development partnerships with DNA Electronics (see IBO 11/30/10) and IBM (see IBO 11/15/11). “After thoroughly reviewing the activities of our Applied Science Business Area, we concluded that reorganizing our life science business will allow us to fully leverage the synergies these products have with our existing clinical diagnostic portfolio,” stated Roland Diggelmann, COO of Roche’s Diagnostics Division. “Roche remains committed to the life science business, and we will continue to serve our customers with our existing life science portfolio and experts in the field.” The company also cited the expected continuation of price pressure and funding cuts in the life science research market as factors in the decision. The Applied Science PCR and nucleic acid purification product lines will be managed by Roche Molecular Diagnostics. The Custom Biotech portfolio will be managed by Roche Professional Diagnostics. Roche expects that the changes will affect 110 positions in Germany and 60 positions in the US. Separately, DNA Electronics announced it will continue the development of its semiconductor sequencing platform with a new focus on creating a “disruptive total solution.”