Affymetrix has extended the range of custom microarrays it offers
to customers with the launch of the NimbleExpress Array Programme,
which caters for users that require fewer units.
Researchers at Harvard have discovered why cholesterol-lowering
drugs do not have identical effects on patients. These medicines on
average cut heart attacks by a third and with sales of $26 billion
dollars and used by 20 million...
Germany's MWG Biotech has launched its own line of small
interfering RNA (siRNA) reagents, siMAX, encroaching into territory
dominated by the likes of Qiagen, Dharmacon, Ambion, Proligo and
Invitrogen.
The European Union has awarded funding worth €2.2 million to the
group of academic institutes behind the 3DGENOME research
programme, which is exploring how the genome functions in health
and disease.
Qiagen and Protedyne have teamed up to develop an ultra
high-throughput sample preparation system for Protedyne's BioCube
systems used for nucleic acid purification,writes Wai Lang
Chu.
This week has seen three companies put forward different solutions
to the topical issue of improving the yield of proteins and nucleic
acids made by biomanufacturing technologies.
Cobra Biomanufacturing of the UK saw its losses halve in the first
half of the current fiscal year, in the face of continuing declines
in the market for contract manufacturing of plasmid DNA.
Swedish drug discovery technology company Cellectricon has raised a
total of SEK 53 million (€5.8 million) following the completion of
its latest Series B financing round, writes Wai Lang Chu.
Researchers in the US are testing a new way to treat HIV by
destroying the virus as it enters host cells. The treatment is
based on the genetic manipulation of the immune cells that HIV
infects to enable them to destroy the virus.
After over a decade of litigation, Roche Molecular Systems has won
a 'significant legal victory' in a US court case challenging the
validity of patents on its polymerase chain reaction technology,
according to the attorney...
A small German company has developed a new drug delivery technology
that can transport active drugs into the interior of cells by an
intrinsic, active mechanism.
The discovery relates to the activity of telomeres - thimble-like caps that are added to the ends of chromosomes in order to protect DNA from damage....
Germany's Icon Genetics has published details of its proprietary
expression technology, designed to improve the production of
biopharmaceuticals and other proteins in genetically-modified
plants.
A new screening approach which can identify a new drug mechanism of
action without the need for an appropriate molecular target has
been used to suppress genetic mutation. The discovery raises new
hopes of identifying potential new...
Two medical charities - Cancer Research UK and the Netherlands
Cancer Institute - have completed the first stage of a pioneering
initiative to systematically uncover the function of human genes.
Cobra Biomanufacturing has granted AstraZeneca the right to use its
proprietary DNA manufacturing process to make nucleic acids for use
in its drug discovery operations.
An international consortium of scientists has sequenced the genome
of the Brown Norway rat, which many predict will deliver a boost
for medical science by alowing the development of better models of
human diseases.
Scientists have started to develop what could be a biosynthetic
route to producing compounds that serve as precursors to a range of
industrial chemicals, including pharmaceuticals.
UK-based Lonza Biologics has extended its agreement with Chromos
Molecular Systems for non-exclusive access to the Canadian firm's
ACE System, technology that speeds up the time researchers need to
isolate cell lines.
An application that will enable direct measurement of nucleic acids
without the need for amplification has been developed by US
Genomics. The application will also allow researchers to perform
validation and characterization of specific...
Benitec, the Australian biotechnology firm, has launched patent
infringement suits in a US district court against Nucleonics,
Ambion, and Genscript, alleging that the three companies are
infringing a US patent concerning gene silencing...
A brand new chemical genomics facility, one of the first academic
small molecule screening facilities in Europe, has been opened by
the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the German
Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) in Heidelberg,...
Researchers in Austria have deciphered the first steps involved in
the attachment of sugar groups to proteins - a process known as
glycoslation - which could open the door to making a broad range of
human proteins in bacteria, writes...
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology in the US have
developed a postage stamp-sized chip that can be used to carry out
many of the routine steps involved in isolating and purifying
nucleic acids from cells.
Biotechnology company Crucell has acquired fellow Netherlands-based
ChromaGenics in a move to get hold of a promising new technology
that could boost yields of proteins and antibodies made in cell
culture, writes Phil Taylor.
Pall has been granted European Union and US approval for a
purification process used in biopharmaceutical production that can
reduce the batch testing requirements of manufacturers, as well as
reducing the risk of virus contamination.
Amersham Biosciences has launched its AKTAxpress system for
high-throughput protein purification, claiming that it can process
samples at four- to eight-times the rate of any other system on the
market, writes Phil Taylor.
Researchers in Finland and the US have identified a gene that
predisposes people to one of the most common causes of coronary
heart disease, raising the hope that it could represent a new
target for drug treatment.
Researchers at Max Planck Institute in Germany have used a
nano-sized imaging tool to capture the first-ever movies of cells
transmitting the messages that control genes. The breakthrough is
expected to help pharmaceutical companies...
Two France-based companies have pooled their resources to set up a
new venture specialising in the contract development and
manufacturing of biologicals drugs.
The European Commission has given Europe a boost in the field of
structural genomics, awarding the European Molecular Biology
Laboratory (EMBL) and its partners €10 million to create a common
platform for researchers working in the...
A team of international researchers have screened the entire known
genome of the fruit fly (Drospohila melanogaster) for genes
that could play a role in cancer.
Shares in Cobra Biomanufacturing of the UK fell 30 per cent
yesterday after the contract manufacturer of proteins, DNA and
viruses gave a warning on profits.
Dowpharma has developed new strains of the bacterium Pseudomonas
fluorescens that can be used to improve the yield of
recombinant proteins made in fermentation vats.
Amersham Biosciences has responded to competition in the
marketplace for purifying tagged proteins with the launch of Ni
Sepharose, a new affinity chromatography medium.
Affymetrix and liquid-handling specialist Caliper Technologies -
now renamed Caliper Life Sciences - are collaborating on ways of
automating genomics research carried out using microarrays.
Colony counting and picking are well-recognised as one of the most
boring, repetitive and error-prone jobs in the lab, and there has
been a strong desire to automate the process.
Qiagen of the Netherlands has started shipping a set of RNA
interference (RNAi) reagents that correspond to the 5,000 or so
genes in the human genome thought most likely to be viable targets
for drug discovery.
Researchers in the UK have discovered a protein that seems to play
a key role in repairing the DNA of cells. The discovery could lead
to a way of inhibiting malignant cells from repairing themselves
after treatment, potentially improving...
A Scottish life sciences company specialising in the development of
bioinformatics software has been sold to QbioCom, a rival firm
based in England, for £1 million.
Sufferers of the skin disease psoriasis may be predisposed to
developing the condition because they carry a mutation in the gene
coding for protein called vascular endothelial growth factor,
according to UK researchers.
France's Nautilus Biotech says that it has achieved a key technical
milestone in a collaboration with Aventis Pasteur, designed to
improve the productivity of the latter's vaccine manufacturing
process.
The international team of scientists working to determine the most
common variations of the human genome have given more details of
the rationale behind the effort, known as the HapMap project, in
the journal Nature (18 December).
German biotechnology company febit has started shipping its geniom
one instrument - the first benchtop system that handles the entire
process of oligonucleotide microarray synthesis, hybridisation and
data analysis in a single instrument.
Molecular Probes of the Netherlands, a specialist in proteomics
tools, took the opportunity presented by the Lab Automation Europe
meeting towards the end of last month to launch a range of new kits
for protein, RNA and DNA analysis.
Japan's Nitto Denko has developed what it claims is the world's
first biodegradable gene carrier that can be used to transfer
foreign genes into animal cells. Because the polymer breaks down in
the body, it exhibits extremely...
