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Biological Diagnostics, Bruker AXS, BioScience Managers, Imperial College, Correlogic, Advion BioSciences, Genedata, National Cancer Center

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BMD Raises €9.3M in Venture capital

Biological diagnostics company BMD of Marne-la-Vallée, France, has raised €9.3 million ($10.7 million) in a second round of financing, the company said last week.

Lead investors were Truffle Venture, Europe Innovation, and Siparex Ventures, joined by AGF Private Equity, 123 Multinova, and original investors CDC IXIS Innovation, Auriga Partners, Sudinnova, and Natexis Ventech.

The new funding will enable the company to accelerate the development of an instrument which combines the robotics platform of Luminex, which BMD licenses, and its proprietary immunoanalysis technology. It will allow multiple diagnostic tests for autoimmune disease to be carried out simultaneously on a single patient sample. Furthermore, it will allow BMD to further its international commercial development, particularly in the US.

In its first financing round in 2000, BMD raised €4.6 million ($5.3 million).

 

Bruker AXS Reports Growing Revenues in Q1

About a month after announcing its plan to merge with sister company Bruker Daltonics, Bruker AXS of Madison, Wis., reported its earnings for the first quarter.

The company’s revenues increased to $29 million, compared to $23.8 million during the same period last year.

Research and development expenses climbed to $2.5 million from $2.1 million, year over year.

The net loss for the quarter totaled $0.8 million, compared to $0.3 million the year before. Part of this $1.3 million is costs associated with the pending merger with Bruker Daltonics.

As of March 31, the company had $48.6 million in cash and cash equivalents.

 

BioScience Managers and Imperial College Plan to Raise £50M Venture Fund

UK fund management firm BioScience Managers (BML) and Imperial College London said last week they would seek to raise a new venture capital fund focused on early-stage medical and life science companies.

With a target size of £50 million ($81 million), the BML Ventures Imperial Fund would make investments in 12-15 startup and early-stage biomedical companies. The fund would have preferential access to companies emerging from Imperial College, and plans to invest about half of its funds in those companies, the other half in non-Imperial companies, predominantly in the UK.

BLM and Imperial said they want to serve the need for venture funds that bridge the gap between early-stage entrepreneurial investments and the activities of traditional venture capital firms.

 

Correlogic to Explore Advion BioSciences’ Nanoelectrospray Platform for Clinical Trial

Correlogic Systems of Bethesda, Md., said last week that it would try out Advion BioSciences’ chip-based nanoelectrospray platform, NanoMate, for use in upcoming ovarian cancer clinical trials.

The two companies have already begun their validation studies and are planning to present their results at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry conference in Montreal next month.

 

Japan’s National Cancer Center Licenses Genedata’s 2D Gel Software

Genedata of Basel, Switzerland, said last week that it has licensed its Impressionist 2D gel analysis software to Japan’s National Cancer Center.

According to the section head of the center’s biology division, Tadashi Kondo, the center performed “an extensive evaluation of protein expression analysis software,” before deciding to settle on Genedata’s software.

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.