Basel, Switzerland 3/29/07; Branford, CT 3/29/07—Roche has signed a definitive agreement to purchase 454 Life Sciences from CuraGen for $140 million in cash and up to $14.9 million in cash upon the exercise of stock options and warrants. Roche has exclusively distributed 454’s DNA sequencing systems since May 2005. In 2006, 454’s product revenue grew […]

Integromics SL, a provider of software solutions for genomic and proteomics data management and analysis, joined Microsoft’s BioIT alliance in November 2006. Text-mining software company Clarabridge joined Microsoft’s BioIT alliance in January. Bioinformatics provider CLC bio became a member of Microsoft’s BioIT alliance in January. Thermo Fisher Scientific joined Microsoft’s BioIT alliance in January. GNI […]

PREMIER Biosoft released SimGlycan for predicting the structure of a glycan from mass spectrometry data. Biber Technologies launched FirstAlight ERP Laboratory Software for the small to medium-sized lab. TAL Technologies released WinWedge Pro 4.0 for interfacing RS232 and TCP/IP devices, such as lab equipment and instruments, to any Windows application. CLC bio released the CLC […]

Arc/spark is a specialized optical emission spectroscopy (OES) technique that is strongly associated with the analysis of metals. In principle, these instruments can be used with nonconductive materials if they are prepared by grinding and forming a mixture with powdered graphite. There are also dedicated systems with specialized electrodes for the analysis of liquids, generally […]

IonSense named KR Analytical as the European distributor for its DART MS ion source in November 2006. Bruker Daltonics and HealthLinx will file a joint patent cooperation treaty for the biomarker candidates for pregnancy complications discovered under their existing collaboration. Bruker Daltonics retains marketing rights to the blood test in Europe, UK, Africa and South […]

Company Announcements Life Therapeutics spun out its LifeGels division, a manufacturer of electrophoresis gels, and Life Bioprocess division into a new company, NuSep, in late 2006. The divisions’ 2006 sales rose 95% to $793,000. Nu Sep is expected to list on the Australian stock exchange in late March. Under a partnership for sales, marketing and […]

Numerous new products are introduced each year at Pittcon. However, Pittcon is not what it used to be for product introductions (see page 4). Thus, while IBO always has plenty of new products to choose from for its annual pick of the top product introductions at the show, Pittcon is not the first exhibition for […]

Aliso Viejo, CA 3/8/07—Carl Zeiss Microimaging has acquired Clarient’s ACIS and Trestle Instrument Systems business assets and intellectual property for $11 million in cash and an additional $1.5 million based on post-closing conditions. In 2005, revenues for Clarient’s Technology Group, which includes fee-per-use and system sales, rose 16% to $8.7 million, including $4.4 million in […]

West Chester, PA 3/12/07—VWR International, the largest independent distributor of laboratory products and services, has announced that it has retained Goldman Sachs & Co. and Banc of America Securities to explore strategic options. “As this process moves forward, we remain committed to maintaining our strong relationships with our customers and suppliers and to the continued […]

In February, Brazilian president Lula da Silva launched a policy for the development of biotechnology that could make the country a biotech leader within 15 years. The policy is designed to foster collaboration between industry and scientists and to create incentives for biotech scientists. This plan will add support to preexisting innovation initiatives (see IBO […]