Fisher and Nanogen Will Share IP, Technologies to Co-Develop Molecular Dxs
Nanogen and Fisher Scientific International last week said they will share each other's technology and patent rights in order to develop, manufacture, and market new molecular diagnostic products.
As part of the deal, Fisher “may provide” Nanogen up to $10 million during 2007 and 2008 to research and develop infectious disease and molecular diagnostic tests “that will be mutually agreed upon.”
Fisher made an equity investment of $15 million in Nanogen in March, buying a 9-percent stake in the San Diego-based company. The purchase coincided with Fisher's $283-million acquisition of Athena Diagnostics (see BAN 3/22/2006).
Last week Nanogen and Fisher said that Nanogen will work with Athena to manufacture and market products based on Athena's biomarkers for research and for in vitro diagnostic use.
Athena has markers in neurology and endocrinology that it has incorporated into its testing service, several of which could be incorporated into assays for use on Nanogen's NanoChip400 microarray platform, Fisher and Nanogen said.
“Likewise,” Nanogen has access to a “wide range of markers” that could be used to create tests for the Athena Diagnostics testing service.
A spokesperson for Nanogen told BioArray News last week that the company is “not looking at specific tests” right now, but it does “see neurology and endocrinology as areas where a personalized approach to medication will find application.”
She added that the firm, which launched the NanoChip400 System in the third quarter of 2005, plans to submit the system for US Food and Drug Administration clearance “at the latest in early 2007” (see BAN 11/8/2005).
OGT Grants Yamatake Second Microarray Manufacturing License
Oxford Gene Technology said this week that it has granted Yamatake, a Japanese biochip company, access to OGT’s IP, enabling the firm to manufacture and commercialize of oligonucleotide microarrays.
Specifically, the microarray license will allow Yamatake to manufacture its Gemkey brand microarrays using in situ synthesis and market them, via its distributor Sigma-Aldrich Japan KK, OGT said.
Specifically, the microarray license will allow Yamatake to manufacture its Gemkey brand microarrays using in situ synthesis and market them, via its distributor Sigma-Aldrich Japan KK, OGT said.
The license will remain valid for the patents’ lifetime. Financial details were not disclosed.
OGT was founded in 1995 to protect and license the patent estate of microarray pioneer Sir Edwin Southern.
The company concluded a similar deal with NGK, another Japanese array firm, last week (see BAN 8/1/2006).
CombiMatrix Adds Aussie Genomic Services Firm to CombiCore Program
CombiMatrix has added the Australian Genome Research Facility to its CombiCore program, the company said this week.
As part of the agreement, CMBX will sell its CustomArrays, CatalogArrays, and array-processing services on a non-exclusive basis to the center.
Michael Tognotti, vice president of sales and marketing at CombiMatrix, said that the deal with AGRF gives the company access to “Australia's largest contract genomics research and services organization serving in excess of 2,000 researchers.”
AGRF is CombiMatrix’s first CombiCore member outside of the US. Current program members also include the University of Colorado’s Health Sciences Center and the University of California, Davis’ Genome Center.
GeneGo Integrates ABI's Tissue Gene-Expression Database Into MetaCore
GeneGo has integrated Applied Biosystems’ tissue gene-expression database into its MetaCore data-mining platform, ABI said last week.
Tatiana Nikolskaya, chief scientific officer and founder of GeneGo, said in a statement that her company has integrated the database as a tissue-expression filter in the firm’s latest product release “to replace the publicly available, but less consistent, UniGene data.”
She added that the companies “look forward to collaborating on additional ways to leverage our complementary solutions.”
ABI created the database using its expression array system and human genome survey microarray. It comprises genome-wide gene-expression values from 31 normal tissues and a universal human reference RNA.
ABI said the combined product “facilitates” microarray experiments, such as comparing gene-expression changes in normal, diseased, or treated human tissues.
Cogenics to Offer Array CGH as Recertified Agilent Microarray Service Provider
Agilent Technologies and Cogenics, a division of Clinical Data, said this week that Cogenics has been recertified for the third year as a Certified Microarray Service Provider for Agilent gene expression microarrays.
According to the partners, the certification has been extended to include Agilent array-based comparative genomic hybridization experiments.
Further details were not disclosed.
UPMC, CNRS to Use BioForce’s NanoArrayer for Proteomic Work
BioForce Nanosciences said this week that the Université Pierre & Marie Curie has purchased its NanoArrayer microarray printer and that the NanoArrayer will be evaluated by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the French national center for scientific research.
According to Kerry Frey, chief operating officer at the Ames, Iowa-based arrayer company, the placement with UPMC is the second this year for BioForce in Europe.
Fatiha Nothias, a researcher at UPMC, said that the university will use the NanoArrayer to print “proteins associated with cell morphology establishment and migration.” Other research groups at UPMC have expressed interest in using the NanoArrayer to study how cells sense their environment during the organization of embryonic tissue, BioForce said.
Financial details were not discussed.
NIH Seeks to Out-License Protein Microarray Technology
The National Institutes of Health is seeking to out-license a protein microarray technology currently being developed by researchers at the National Cancer Institute, the NIH said last week.
According to the NIH, the technology comprises “a DNA microarray that becomes a protein microarray on demand and provides an efficient systematic approach to the study of protein interactions and drug target identification and validation.
"The technology allows a large number of proteins to be synthesized and immobilized at their individual site of expression on an ordered array without the need for protein purification. As a result, proteins are ready for subsequent use in binding studies and other analysis,” the NIH said.
Additional details about the technology are available from the NIH’s office of technology transfer.