FOSTER CITY, Calif.--PE Nelson, the laboratory information management systems division of Perkin-Elmer, introduced a software application package that supports bioinformatics software tracking in labs devoted to biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, and pharmaceutical R&D by performing project and sample management functions associated with genetic analysis. The product is Perkin-Elmer's first commercial software for genetic sample tracking.
Perkin-Elmer has been building its bioinformatics capabilities since acquiring Molecular Informatics from the National Center for Genome Resources last fall, a company spokesman told BioInform.
Perkin-Elmer also announced an agreement with Hitachi in which the companies will jointly develop automated electrophoresis-based genetic analysis instrumentation. Perkin-Elmer's Applied Biosys tems division will market the Hitachi-manufactured systems exclusively worldwide, except in Japan, where the two companies will share marketing rights.
"Hitachi's experience in high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies, combined with its expertise in manufacturing instrumentation for regulated markets, makes it an ideal partner to develop systems for a new generation of customers," said PE Applied Biosystems division president Michael Hunkapiller.