Thermo, Fisher Issue Conversion Rights to Certain Fisher Shareholders
Blackburn develops surfaces and affinity tags for immobilizing proteins without impairing function, and researches protein activity, according to Genetix.
Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific last week announced they have provided conversion-right notices to certain shareholders of Fisher as a result of the planned merger between the two companies.
The notices were given to holders of Fisher’s 2.5-percent convertible senior notes due 2023; Fisher’s floating rate convertible senior debentures due 2033, and Fisher’s 3.25-percent convertible senior subordinated notes due 2024.
The notice instructs holders of the notes to surrender securities for conversion beginning Oct. 2 until 15 days after the effective date of the merger between Thermo and Fisher. The companies continue to expect the merger to be completed in the fourth quarter.
Stanford Grants Singulex Molecule Detection Patent
Stanford University has granted Singulex an exclusive, worldwide license to a technology for detecting an individual fluorescent particle at a single molecule limit, Singulex said last week.
Using the technology, Singulex will be able to conduct quantitative detection of single molecules in fluid solutions, on a surface, and on film, the company said in a statement.
Singulex has incorporated the Stanford technology into the Zeptx System, the company’s flagship quantitative digital molecule-detection platform, Singulex said. System, the company’s flagship quantitative digital molecule-detection platform, Singulex said.
Pressure Biosciences Receives SBIR Grant to Research Extraction Methods
Pressure Biosciences this week announced it has received a $149,470 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant is for six months.
The company will use it to fund experiments demonstrating the feasibility of using its Pressure Cycling Technology to develop a method for extracting clinically important protein biomarkers, sub-cellular molecular complexes, and organelles from cells and tissues, Pressure Biosciences said.
Improvements in extraction methods are needed for better analysis of the human proteome, the company said.
Lumera, ISB Renew Partnership to Develop Protein Microarray Platform
Lumera and the Institute for Systems Biology announced this week they have renewed an agreement to develop detection methods for an array of cancer biomarkers.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
This week’s agreement is an expansion of a collaboration between Lumera and ISB announced in February 2005 to develop a label-free protein microarray platform. The original agreement made ISB the first academic institution to test Lumera’s ProteomicProcessor reader.
In a statement, Lumera said the initial launch of the ProteomicProcessor and the NanoCapture microarray will focus on the therapeutic antibody screening market “where there is a significant unmet demand for kinetic and affinity analysis in a high-throughput format.”
AlgoNomics Receives European Patent for Protein Structure Technology
AlgoNomics was granted a European patent for technology protecting its FASTER method for predicting protein structure, the Ghent, Belgium-based company announced this week.
The patent, filed in 2000, ”allows us to consolidate our position as a world leader in structural bioinformatics,” according to AlgoNomics COO Philippe Stas.
Genetix Sells Protein Microarrayer to South African Research Lab
Genetix said this week that it has sold a microarrayer to the Center for Proteomic & Genomic Research in Cape Town, South Africa.
The arrayer, QAray2, dedicated to the production of protein arrays, was placed in the lab of Jonathan Blackburn, Genetix said.
Blackburn develops surfaces and affinity tags for immobilizing proteins without impairing function, and researches protein activity, according to Genetix.
Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.