Recent Reports from GenomeWeb

Ahead of the Helix: GenomeWeb.com Highlights

Cross-Atlantic Envy

Gunnar Weikert says: “Unlike in America, European technological innovations rarely translate into successful, high-value products. Until now. The people behind the EITec believe that we can get the great minds in Europe’s ivory towers to come down and begin making significant contributions to science, business, the economy, and ultimately to millions of people.”

Find TrendSpotter: “Europeans Look to Merge Research and Business Like Les Americains” by searching: Gunnar

Proteomics Periscope

Given the relatively fractured nature of the sector, companies seeking to grow may find that acquiring complementary technologies makes far more sense than trying to build complex instrumentation on their own. For entrepreneurs at some of the smaller companies, an acquisition may be their last chance to hit pay dirt.

Find “Proteomics Sector Shows First Symptoms of M&A Fever” by searching: symptoms

Ego Wins Out

“Today we basically established GeneProt’s leadership in the role of proteomics.” — Cedric Loiret-Bernal

Find “Backed by Compaq, Bruker, and Novartis, GeneProt Opens Industrial-Scale Proteomics Facility” by searching: GeneProt

Desperately Seeking Anyone

It didn’t seem to matter that the new Perlegen executive has no job experience or background in life sciences. Everyone knows how hard it is to find executives with one foot in biology and the other in information systems. “Everybody is looking for the same people,” says Ellen Clark of Clark Executive Search. Job seekers know that it’s a buyer’s market, and many are demanding hefty compensation packages.

Find “Despite Cool Economy, Genomics Companies Still Struggling to Fill Positions” by searching: positions

Crouching Bear, Hidden Bull

“It’s a bear’s holiday; they are roaming freely on Wall Street. Occasionally, a bull pokes its head out and makes a run for it. But he goes it alone, no thundering herds!” — Ira Leiderman

Find “TrendSpotter: Private Offerings Offer Hope to Cash-Strapped Firms” by searching: cash-strapped

Go East, Young Man

As Japan lunges into its government-supported genomics effort, Western genomics companies have lately been showing signs they are turning eastward to seize the new market opportunities. AP Biotech said its sales of instruments and reagents to Japan and throughout Asia had increased enough to offset the effects of a weak North American market for sequencers.

Find “As Japan Blasts into Genomics, Western Companies Look East for Revenues” by searching: Japan

Bioinform.com Highlights

The Mighty Jungle

Approximately 20 percent of the San Diego-based Trega Biosciences was let go in Lion’s plan to restructure the operation as an “R&D center of excellence.” Lion CEO Friedrich von Bohlen said the restructuring falls in line with Lion’s goal to establish a horizontal enterprise-wide informatics system that combines biology, chemistry, and preclinical research with clinical data and information.

Find “Lion Firms Up Post-Trega Plan; Layoffs, New Hires Mark Cheminformatics Focus” by searching: Trega

BioArray News.com Highlights

Maiden Voyage

In the inaugural issue of BioArray News, a weekly global newsletter on the biochip/microarray market, you’ll find an interview with Affymetrix CEO Steve Fodor on his company’s strategy for staying on top. There’ll be a Q&A with a microarray user from a leading pharma company, and we’ll introduce readers to new microarray companies breaking into the sector. Also, in a special feature unique to this issue: charts comparing all of the specialty microarrays available and the top players in the field.