In signing a 15-year development and marketing deal, Roche Diagnostics and biochip startup CombiMatrix are betting that semiconductor chips will prove as useful for DNA and protein expression analysis as they are for the computer industry.

The non-exclusive deal, which the companies signed July 3, stipulates that Roche will use, develop, and resell CombiMatrix''''s semiconductor-based biochips. The companies have also agreed to develop platform technology for standardized biochips.