Tecan and Dynal Biotech to Co-Develop Variety of Molecular Biology Applications
Tecan and Dynal Biotech will co-develop and market optimized applications for separating, isolating, and manipulating biological material such as DNA, RNA, and proteins, the companies said.
Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreement, which was originally announced on Oct. 15, the companies will develop applications using Dynal’s Dynabeads magnetic bead kits and Tecan’s Freedom EVO automated platform. Specific applications will include nucleic-acid extraction and preparation; PCR and sequencing clean-up procedures; and isolating recombinant proteins.
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
GE Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline Ink Data-Integration Deal
GE Healthcare will help GlaxoSmithKline develop an informatics system to integrate data from internal and external drug-discovery R&D sources, the companies said this week.
Under the deal, GlaxoSmithKline will be able to use GeneticXchange’s DiscoveryHub data- and information-integration software in its genetics, discovery, and pre-clinical-development R&D groups.
Additionally, the deal calls for GE Healthcare and GlaxoSmithKline to design, develop, and support next-generation DiscoveryHub technology.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Partek Licenses Software to Harvard’s Bauer Genomics Center
Partek said this week that it has licensed its Partek software to the Bauer Center for Genomics Research at Harvard University.
According to Partek, the software is used to analyze patterns in data, including data resulting from genomic and proteomic studies, high-throughput screening campaigns, and computer-aided drug design.
Specific terms of the licensing deal were not disclosed.
NimbleGen Raises $12.8M in Venture Capital Round
NimbleGen Systems has raised $12.75 million in a series F round of venture capital financing, the company said this week.
Current investors Baird Venture Partners and Venture Investors led the round. New investors included Cargill Ventures and Topspin Partners, as well as all of the company’s other existing venture capital and institutional investors.
The new round brings to $41 million the total amount of private-equity financing NimbleGen has raised since its founding in 2000.
Agilent Invests in Acer Venture Fund And Rolls Out New Lab-on-a-Chip
The Agilent Ventures unit of Agilent Technology made an undisclosed investment in Acer Technology Ventures Asia Pacific Ltd.’s IPF III, which is focused on making venture capital investments in technology-based private companies in China, the company said Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Agilent introduced the Agilent 5100 automated lab-on-a-chip system for the high-throughput analysis of DNA and protein samples. The instrument processes samples from industry-standard 96- or 384-well plates, 10 of which can be inserted at a time.
An automated, robotic handling mechanism loads the sample with reagents and internal reference standards onto a reusable microfluidic chip for separation and detection, according to Agilent.
The system software automatically analyzes the results, generating digital data as well as a gel-like image and electropherogram.
The instrument will be offered with two assays initially — the DNA 1000 HT-4 kit for qualitative and quantitative verification of polymerase chain reaction and multiplex PCR samples or for screening of double-stranded DNA fragments; and the Protein 200 HT-2 kit for sizing and quantification of proteins during purification or protein expression experiments.
Pricing details were not provided.
BD to Present at CIBC Conference
Becton Diskinson announced last week that it would participate CIBC World Markets Healthcare Conference at the Plaza Hotel in New York. The company will present on Nov. 9 at 4:30 p.m. EST. A full list of presenting companies is available at http://www.cibcwm.com/conferences/health04/agenda.pdf
Calypte Biomedical Licenses HIV-2 Patents from Bio-Rad
Calypte Biomedical last week announced that it has entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Bio-Rad Laboratories for patents relating to the HIV-2. Bio-Rad is the exclusive licensee of Institut Pasteur of Paris, France, under the HIV-2 patents.
Financial details were not provided.
Calypte is based in Pleasanton, Calif.