NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – BioView has entered into a worldwide agreement with Abbott to distribute BioView's Duet FISH workstations, an automated platform for scanning analysis and review of FISH slides for clinical applications. Abbott will have exclusive distribution rights to BioView's products in all regions except the US and Canada, where Abbott will have non-exclusive rights.
The two firms reached an agreement in November to collaborate on the development of automated digital imaging software for Abbott's Vysis ALK Break Apart FISH Probe Kit.
Atossa Genetics has been added to the Russell Microcap Index, which measures the performance of the microcap segment of the US equity market. Microcap stocks are made up of the smallest 1,000 securities in the small-cap Russell 2000 Index, and the next 1,000 eligible securities, based on a ranking of all US equities by market capitalization.
The BC Salmon Farmers Association reached a materials transfer agreement for a new Genome BC study that focuses on virus and pathogen detection in fish residing in the waters along the British Columbia. In phase 2 of the project, samples are being collected from BC farms in connection to a broader sampling program of farmed fish, wild salmon, and hatchery salmon. The goal is to determine the diseases, viruses, and pathogens that are present and in what areas along the BC coast. Phase 2 is anticipated to be completed in April 2015, and phase 3 will tackle microbes that may be of significance to salmon, with the aim of elucidating disease processes in the wild fish. Phase 4 will report outcomes from the research.The project is expected to wrap up in 2017.
Centrillion Biosciences announced the two winning teams of the Sequencing Innovation Grant Program. They are Ryan Hernandez and Nicolas Strauli, and Jianzhong Hu.
Hernandez is an assistant professor in the bioengineering department at the University of California, San Francisco, and Strauli is a graduate student working with Hernandez. They won for their proposal called "Intra-patient co-evolution between HIV and the adaptive immune system."
Hu is an assistant professor at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences. His proposal was titled "Association of meconium microbiome to preterm birth and maternal environment."
The winners receive sample sequencing and bioinformatics analysis services.
Solulink said it has completed a new round of equity financing, which it will use to accelerate the commercialization of its Hybrilink labeling technology. The technology enables researchers to mix and match any fluorophore with any antibody on demand. The company did not provide details about the financing.
The Humane Society of the United States said recently it invested in bioanalytics tools company Hurel. The funds, whose amount was not disclosed, will be used to support research into new applications for Hurel's cell culture technologies and the commercialization of the firm's products. It is the Human Society's first investment into "21st Century biomedical science and technology," it said and is part of a program to support industry players whose technologies, products, and services, promote a "humane economy" and actively advance the animal protection goals of the society.
Hurel raised $9.2 million in a Series A equity financing round in April.
SDIX completed the $16 million sale of its Life Sciences business to OriGene Technologies. SDIX is renaming itself Special Diversified Opportunities as a result, and OriGene is acquiring the rights to the SDIX branding. The Life Sciences business will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of OriGene under the SDIX name.
Gene synthesis technology firm Gen9 said it has been selected to participate in the Synthetic Yeast Project Sc2.0, which was announced last week. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company will use its next-generation gene synthesis technology to contribute to the project. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is hosting the project.
In Brief This Week is a Friday column containing news items that our readers may have missed during the week.