NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Bruker this week acquired SkyScan, a Belgian scientific instruments firm for an undisclosed amount. SkyScan makes high-resolution micro computed tomography systems for three-dimensional X-ray imaging. The firm has been renamed Bruker microCT NV, and will continue to operate from its premises near Antwerp, Belgium under its previous management.
Bruker said the acquisition will add approximately $13 million to its revenues in 2012 and will be accretive to EPS by about $.01. It noted that SkyScan's revenue is derived 50-50 from materials science applications and life science and preclinical imaging applications.
Idaho Technology said that it has signed up the DiaMondial family of distributors to distribute its FilmArray Respiratory Panel in strategic territories throughout Europe. The 15-analyte panel received US Food and Drug Administration clearance last year, and the firm recently received the CE Mark in Europe for a panel of 21 analytes.
Genetic Signatures this week said that it has received the CE-IVD Mark for its EasyScreen C. difficile Detection Kit. The real-time, multiplex PCR assay can run on a range of commercially available thermocyclers and detects the "more dangerous hypervirulent forms of C. difficile, such as ribotype 027 and 078," the Sydney, Australia-based firm said.
Life Technologies said this week that the US Food and Drug Administration has extended its recent method equivalency finding of the Applied Biosystems TaqMan Salmonella Enteritidis Detection Kit to test poultry eggs for additional use on environmental samples at production houses. The kit had previously received interim approval for environmental sample testing by the National Poultry Improvement Plan, a division of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Waters has named the Irish National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training as one of its Centers of Innovation. Waters also said that it has established with NIBRT the Complete Product and Processing Characterization Facility for scientific training and retraining of biopharmaceutical analysis including protein and peptide characterization.
Precision BioSciences has filed a ninth patent infringement suit against French firm Cellectis. This suit alleges infringement of US Patent No. 8,148,098, one of a series of patents covering Precision Bio's Directed Nuclease Editor technology.
In Brief This Week is a Friday column containing news items that our readers may have missed during the week.