Ariadne announces a new collaboration with the BIO-NMD consortium led by Professor Alessandra Ferlini at the University of Ferrara, Italy. BIO-NMD is a three year EU-funded research project concentrating on the search for non-invasive biomarkers in people with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies and Collagen VI myopathies. The consortium, along with leading European academic and industry partners will work to identify non-invasive biomarkers for monitoring neuromuscular diseases (NMDs). Utilizing a myriad of OMIC sciences (genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic) and bioinformatics, the consortium hopes to bring qualified biomarkers for ongoing and further clinical trials.

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced that it has appointed Nicholas J. Naclerio, Ph.D., to the position of senior vice president, Corporate Development, reporting to Jay Flatley, president and chief executive officer. In this capacity, Dr. Naclerio will be responsible for all Corporate and Business Development activities, including licensing, strategic planning and acquisitions.

ibidi GmbH, a supplier of solutions for Bio-Microscopy (so-called ‘µ-Slides’), releases the µ-Slide Chemotaxis 3D, a chamber for chemotaxis and migration studies of non-adherent cells in 3D gel matrices.

Accelrys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACCL) today announced the completion of its merger with Symyx Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMMX).

Under the terms of the transaction, Symyx stockholders will receive approximately 0.7802 shares of Accelrys common stock for each share of Symyx common stock they own. As of today, the merged entity will trade on the NASDAQ stock exchange as Accelrys, Inc. under the symbol ACCL.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today an agreement to develop a nanopore-based technology that will directly read and sequence human DNA quickly and efficiently. Focused on advancing IBM’s recently published “DNA Transistor” technology, the collaboration will take advantage of IBM’s leadership in microelectronics, information technology and computational biology and Roche’s expertise in medical diagnostics and genome sequencing.

Celsis In Vitro, Inc. (Celsis IVT) announced today that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Invitrogen Corporation (Invitrogen) and CellzDirect, Inc. (CellzDirect) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago and has moved for a preliminary injunction. Invitrogen, the parent of CellzDirect, is itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Life Technologies of Carlsbad, California (Nasdaq:LIFE).

Vermillion, Inc. (Pink Sheets: VRML), a molecular diagnostics company, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a notice of allowance of a patent entitled “Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease” to the Company. The patent claims are directed to biomarker combinations for the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s disease and to the measurement of the biomarkers by a variety of methods, including mass spectrometry and immunoassay.

Rules-Based Medicine, Inc. (RBM) today announced the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has granted it a Company Commercialization Award to expand and enhance the OncologyMAP™ program for discovery and development of novel diagnostic and prognostic cancer tests. The award of approximately $3 million will fund research and development to more than double the number of cancer-associated biomarker assays in RBM’s new OncologyMAP™ product.

Scienion’s innovative dispensing technology is excellently suited for a variety of applications wherever contact-free precise handling of ultra low volume liquids is needed. For Prof. Peter H. Seeberger, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, the sciFLEYXARRAYER proved to be the best choice for the production of carbohydrate arrays.

Newest findings in the field of blood-borne cancer biomarkers have been published in the latest issue of BMC Cancer: Based on the joint efforts of the Biomarker Discovery Center (bdc) Heidelberg, the Saarland University, and supported by febit and its microRNA Biochip assay, this study investigated the expression of microRNA biomarkers in blood cells of melanoma patients.

Fluidigm Corporation today announced it has developed the world’s first reusable bio-chip architecture for the commercial market. These reusable integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) will dramatically lower SNP genotyping costs and are designed to support accelerated sample throughput, while maintaining data quality of 99.75 percent or greater accuracy and 99 percent or greater call rates.

rotagen AG, a specialist for in-vitro diagnostics and GMP-compliant protein analysis, and Bayer Schering Pharma AG, a global leading specialty pharmaceuticals company, announced today the closing of a cooperation contract for discovery of novel biomarkers in Endometriosis.

Researchers from Agendia and leading academic centers in the U.S. and Europe will present data from multiple studies concerning Agendia’s MammaPrint®, BluePrint™, and ColoPrint™ at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, June 4 - 8, 2010, at McCormick Place in Chicago. The study results underpin the broad predictive and prognostic power of MammaPrint and highlight prospective and independently validated data on ColoPrint. Visitors can meet the Agendia team in booth #18018.

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) today announced a new price of $19,500 for its individual genome sequencing service. In addition, the company announced a price of $14,500 per genome for groups of five or more participants using the same physician. Individuals with serious medical conditions for whom whole-genome sequencing could provide potential direct clinical value will be eligible for special pricing of $9,500 per genome. In all cases, the service requires individuals to follow Illumina’s physician-mediated process, which involves pre-service consultation, consent, and a seven-day cooling off period, with final genome data returned to the physician.

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced that it has begun shipping its new HumanOmni2.5-Quad DNA Analysis BeadChip (Omni2.5). This microarray contains millions of newly discovered genome-wide common and rare variants from the 1,000 Genomes Project (1kGP), selected to maximize its ability to detect new associations. Omni2.5 represents a significant milestone in Illumina’s 2010 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) roadmap, announced in late 2009, that is providing access to superior common and rare variant content as it is deployed from the 1kGP. Omni2.5 delivers unprecedented genome coverage for both SNP and copy number variation (CNV) analysis, while retaining the industry leading data quality and simple workflow that has made Infinium arrays the gold standard GWAS analysis tool.