NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) — Bio-Rad Laboratories announced this week that it has joined the Consortium for Sequencing the Food Supply Chain established in 2015 by IBM Research and Mars. The consortium uses genomics and informatics to test food and detect hazards in the food supply. Bio-Rad will contribute its expertise in chromogenic and molecular tests for food pathogens and food quality indicators.
Douglas Scientific announced this week that it will collaborate with TATAA Biocenter to offer PCR services on Douglas' IntelliQube platform. The two companies have been working together since 2013 to design software for and test the performance of the IntelliQube.
Applied DNA Sciences announced this week that it has signed a cooperative research and development agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture to genetically identify and verify key cultivars for multiple types of cotton using its fiberTyping technology. This will help the cotton industry to verify desirable claims for cotton such as whether it is sustainably or organically grown, free of the impact of human trafficking or child labor, and source-verified, the company said in a statement.
DNAmito announced this week that it acquired Netherlands-based ptTheragnostic, a spin-off from Maastricht University, the University Medical Center, and Maastro Clinic. The company focuses on the development of genomics-based personalized analysis for radiation sensitivity to optimize radiation treatment for cancer patients. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Genetic Analysis announced this week that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Finnish biotechnology and diagnostic company Biohit Oyj for the Chinese and Finnish markets. Further, Biohit will invest in Genetic Analysis through a share exchange agreement, resulting in an ownership share of 18 percent. After the exchange, Genetic Analysis will own 2.4 percent of Biohit’s total outstanding shares.
GeneWiz announced this week that it has received an investment to support its growth activities. The financing was led by OrbiMed, with participation from Ampersand Capital Partners and Prime Value Capital Management. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Macrogen announced this week that it has chosen to use multiple Dragen Bio-IT Processors from Edico Genome to reinforce its big data processing and analysis capacity for large-scale genome analysis and clinical sequencing services. After evaluating several data processing systems, Macrogen found that Dragen saved time and reduced infrastructure costs while maintaining high accuracy. The processor is integrated on a PCIe card and available in a pre-configured server.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on the GenomeWeb site.