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In Brief This Week: Life Technologies; Qiagen; Leica Biosystems; Becton Dickinson; PerkinElmer; MOgene, Intuitive Genomics

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Life Technologies this week said that it will provide a complete workflow to researchers aiming to identify 20,000 human remains found in mass graves in Libya. Life Tech will provide a variety of forensic DNA technologies and samples will be processed by its Dubai-based distributor Integrated Gulf Biosystems. The project is being funded in part by a $2.5 million grant from Spanish oil firm Repsol.


Investment bank RW Baird raised its stock price target on Qiagen to $26 from $20 after the firm posted fourth-quarter revenues above estimates and provided 2013 guidance above Wall Street's expectations.


Leica Biosystems announced this week that it has opened an R&D facility in the Boston area of Massachusetts, which will focus on development of companion diagnostics.


The board of directors of Becton Dickinson this week declared a quarterly dividend of $.495 per common share. The dividend is payable on March 29 to holders of record on March 8.


PerkinElmer's board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $.07 per share. The dividend is payable on May 10 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 19.


MOgene announced a partnership with Intuitive Genomics this week to further expand its bioinformatics capabilities. The St. Louis-based genomics services provider didn't disclose any details of the expansion.


In Brief This Week is a Friday column containing news items that our readers may have missed during the week.

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.