Beckman Coulter, Inc., has extended the range of its industry leading LS 13 320 particle size analyzer to allow high-resolution, reproducible measurement of samples from .017 to 2000 µm. The enhanced LS 13 320 also adds Rosin-Rammler and Folk & Ward Phi methods to its full complement of standard analytical capabilities.

Established in 2009, BlackBio is a biotechnology spin‐off company committed to making personalized medicine
an affordable reality.

Source: Biotools

Merck KGaA, a global pharmaceutical and chemical company, and Millipore Corporation (NYSE: MIL), a leading Life Science company based in Billerica, Massachusetts, USA, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Merck KGaA will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of Millipore, for US$ 107 per share in cash, or a total transaction value, including net debt, of approximately EUR 5.3 billion (US$ 7.2 billion). The transaction was approved by the boards of directors of both companies. Millipore and Merck will create a EUR 2.1 billion (US$ 2.9 billion) world-class partner for the Life Science sector, achieving significant scale in high-margin specialty products with an attractive growth profile.

Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. (NYSE: IMA), a global leader in enabling individuals to take charge of their health at home through the merger of rapid diagnostics and health management, announced today that it will attend the RBC Capital Markets Healthcare Conference being held March 2 through 3, 2010 at the New York Palace Hotel in New York City. Jon Russell, Vice President, Finance, will attend. Mr. Russell is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion entitled “The Art of Integrating Acquisitions” on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 8:00 a.m. The panel discussion will be made available to the public through a webcast accessible via http://www.wsw.com/webcast/rbc116/panel16/ as well as through the company’s website at http://www.invmed.com/investors.cfm. A replay of the webcast will be available via the links above for approximately 30 days from the date of the webcast. During the presentation, Mr. Russell may discuss and answer questions concerning business and financial developments and trends. His responses to questions, as well as other matters discussed during the webcast, may contain or constitute information that has not been disclosed previously.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO), the world leader in serving science, today announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Ahura Scientific, a leader in handheld Raman and FT-IR (Fourier-transform infrared) spectroscopy instruments that are used worldwide in the identification of chemicals for safety, security and pharmaceutical applications. Ahura generated full-year 2009 revenues of approximately $45 million. The company will be integrated into Thermo Fisher’s Analytical Technologies Segment.

With its latest publication in the field of targeted next generation sequencing, febit sets new standards in large scale genomic studies: the HybSelect technology has been established as a highly scalable method to enrich biologically relevant exome subsets with increased sample numbers. A summary of the study on febit’s website gives an overview of the results.

Millipore Corporation (NYSE:MIL), a leading provider of technologies, tools and services for the global life science industry, today confirmed that its Board of Directors is evaluating strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value, including by pursuing a process with potential bidders to explore a possible merger or sale of the Company. The Company has engaged Goldman Sachs as its financial advisor and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP as its legal advisor to assist the Board in its evaluation.

Affymetrix, Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX) today announced that Professor Tom Rapoport of Harvard Medical School and Howard Hughes Medical Institute is the winner of the 2010 Anatrace Membrane Protein Award. The award was presented at the Biophysical Society annual meeting in San Francisco and is sponsored by Anatrace, which is now part of Affymetrix.

IntegriChain, Inc., a commercial insight provider supporting the pharmaceutical industry, announces the launch of its new DNA: Dynamic NextGen Analytics™ (DNA) platform. This powerful new analytic platform helps pharmaceutical manufacturers unlock the value of Direct Data through data integration, enrichment and guided analytics. Direct Data includes those data assets typically provided to the manufacturer as a function of other agreements such as fee for service, rebates, coupon programs and chargebacks.

Beckman Coulter Genomics Inc. and Genpathway, Inc. have announced a strategic partnership to offer customers whole-genome chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) services. The alliance provides researchers investigating gene regulation and genetic pathways a single, inclusive source for services supporting genome-wide studies of transcription factor binding, gene transcription and epigenetic events.

febit today announced the launch of its HybSelector, a new instrument for high throughput targeted resequencing, at the 11th annual Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) meeting on February 24-27, 2010, in Marco Island , Florida. AGBT is now widely regarded as the premier scientific forum for sharing information about the latest advances in new DNA sequencing technologies and their application to diverse areas in biology and biomedical research. The new HybSelector instrument will replace the Geniom RT Analyzer for high-quality DNA enrichment followed by targeted next-generation sequencing. The compact HybSelector combines febit’s well established expertise in the development and manufacture of technologies for genome exploration with the most advanced high-quality DNA enrichment automation available on the market.

Sequenom, Inc. (Nasdaq: SQNM) today announced the launch of the SensiGene(TM) Fetal(XY) (Fetal Sex Determination) test by Sequenom’s CAP accredited and CLIA-certified laboratory, Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine (Sequenom CMM). This is the company’s second laboratory developed test powered by its SEQureDx(TM) technology.

Madison, USA — Roche NimbleGen (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that Beijing-based genomic services provider CapitalBio has officially joined the Roche NimbleGen Certified Service Provider (CSP) Program. CapitalBio has been certified to process customer samples for NimbleGen Gene Expression, Comparative Genomic Hybridization/Copy Number Variation (CGH/CNV) and DNA Methylation services in their lab in Beijing, China and is the first NimbleGen CSP in Asia to implement the MS 200 Microarray Scanner into their array workflow for high-resolution scanning.

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) and Celera Corporation (NASDAQ:CRA) today announced an agreement under which QIAGEN will distribute a Celera molecular multiplex assay. The assay is the next generation version of QIAGEN’s ResPlex II assay for detection of respiratory pathogens. Multiplex assays allow testing for a multiple number of different pathogens in a single run. Financial details were not disclosed.

Sequenom, Inc. (Nasdaq: SQNM), today announced an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Optherion, Inc. Under the agreement, Sequenom’s CAP accredited and CLIA-certified laboratory, Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine (Sequenom CMM), obtained the rights to develop and commercialize diagnostic tests to predict genetic predisposition to late stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).