Integromics Joins Microsoft BioIT Alliance
Spanish bioinformatics firm Integromics said this week that it has joined the BioIT Alliance — an industry-wide life science IT collaboration spearheaded by Microsoft.
Integromics, based in Madrid, specializes in software for managing and analyzing microarray data. The company also offers text-mining analysis tools.
BioWisdom to Market Connexor Text Analyzer with its Sofia Platform
Text-analysis software company Connexor said last week that BioWisdom will distribute its Machinese platform along with its own Sofia Knowledge Suite.
Machinese will be used in BioWisdom's sofiaEditor module to automatically extract information from text-based online literature, Connexor said.
BioWisdom uses the Sofia suite to create so-called Intelligence Networks, which “allow unbiased, systematic analysis of problems and are used to support decision-making in all areas of the healthcare industry.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Transinsight Partners with Max Planck on Biomedical Image Searching
Transinsight, a bioinformatics startup based in Dresden, Germany, said this week that it has entered a three-year collaboration with the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in the area of biomedical image analysis.
Transinsight said that it plans to extend its GoPubMed search engine “towards biomedical image search and knowledge-based image recognition.” The company said that it plans to focus on “particle tracking imagery produced by high-throughput microscopy.”
Marino Zerial, MPI-CBG director, said in a statement that “it is essential to be able to extract more information from the new generation of image-based screens.”
Transinsight was founded in late 2005. The company has raised seed financing from the German High-Tech Gründer Fonds and an additional undisclosed amount from a private investor.
Almac Diagnostics Licenses GeneGo’s MetaCore
GeneGo said this week that Almac Diagnostics, a division of Almac Group, has licensed its MetaCore data-mining platform.
Almac Diagnostics will use MetaCore to help develop its microarray-based products diagnosing and treating cancer.
The company will also use the platform in its genomic services division.
"We compared several platforms before we finally decided on GeneGo,” said Vitali Proutski, bioinformatics manager at Almac Diagnostics, in a statement.
Financial terms of the agreement were not provided.
Laboratoires Fournier Licenses Biobase's TRANSFAC Database
Laboratoires Fournier, a subsidiary of Solvay, has licensed Biobase’s TRANSFAC eukaryotic gene-regulation database, Biobase said this week.
Biobase said the company, based in Dijon, France, will use the database to develop therapeutics for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.
TRANSFAC contains information on 8,700 transcription factors and is updated every three months.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.
Bayer Healthcare Extends License to Linguamatics/BioWisdom System
Linguamatics and BioWisdom said this week that Bayer Healthcare has extended a license to a joint solution built upon Linguamatics' I2E text-mining software and BioWisdom taxonomies.
Bayer’s Scientific Information and Documentation team uses I2E to “solve a diverse range of knowledge discovery problems across the business,” Linguamatics and BioWisdom said.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
“We recognize the value that text mining with high quality taxonomies can bring to solving our business problems", said Wolfgang Thielemann, head of document retrieval at Bayer Healthcare, in a statement.
Diversa to Use Genomatica Simulation Technology
Genomatica said this week that Diversa will use its proprietary biosimulation technology to develop more efficient biomanufacturing processes for biologically derived enzyme products.
Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, Genomatica will receive research support and milestone payments and will be eligible for royalty payments based on future product sales.