Washington DC (Scicasts) - RainDance Technologies and Ambry Genetics, have announced a new collaboration focused on the development and commercialization of a comprehensive drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) genetic screening panel for use on next-generation sequencing (NGS) systems. The announcement was made in conjunction with the Society of Toxicology’s 50th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Auckland, New Zealand and Carlsbad, CA (Scicasts) - Biomatters and Active Motif are to support the latest version of the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology from Active Motif’s TimeLogic division within Biomatters’ Geneious Server high performance sequence analysis software. According to the announcement, the partnership will lead to faster sequence analyses for researchers with high-intensity visualization and computing needs.

Santa Clara, CA (Scicasts) - Agilent Technologies has announced that its acquisition of scientific-equipment maker Varian is now final. According to the announcement, Agilent paid approximately $1.5 billion in cash for Varian in a deal that brings together two Silicon Valley pioneers.

Basel, Switzerland (Scicasts) - Genedata, a provider of advanced software solutions for drug discovery and life science research, has announced a five-year-extension of an ongoing collaboration with the Netherland's Kluyver Centre, an industry and government consortium using microbial genomics to improve industrial fermentation processes. The Genedata Phylosopher biological data management platform and the Genedata Expressionist biomarker discovery platform will support central data storage and provide automated workflows to integrate transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic data for the centre's academic and industrial research partners.

Australia (Scicasts) - Tecan Australia is a new business venture aimed at providing dedicated regional support to Tecan customers throughout Australasia. According to Tecan's announcement, this latest commitment builds on and continues the established partnership with AimLab to promote and support Tecan’s range of laboratory instruments in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. The existing team of highly trained sales and support staff will now be able to provide enhanced service through dedicated support of Tecan products, further strengthening its existing relationships with world class research and diagnostics customers in the region.

Fremont, CA (Scicasts) - WaferGen Biosystems, a developer of genetic analysis systems, has unveiled that Ghent University (UGent) in Belgium has signed a research collaboration and is an early-access customer for the WaferGen SmartChip Real-Time PCR System.

Foster City, CA and Concord, ON (Scicasts) - AB SCIEX has announced its launch as a new company dedicated to life science analytical technologies. According to the announcement, the new company combines the two halves of the highly successful AB SCIEX mass spectrometry joint venture into an integrated organization. AB SCIEX intends to utilize its new operating structure to increase speed to market in developing innovative new solutions and expanding service and support to enable the scientific community to continue its increasing use of mass spectrometry for a broader range of applications.

Berlin, Germany and Aarhus, Denmark (Scicasts) - CLC bio, a provider of High-Throughput Sequencing analysis solutions, has announced that they're collaborating with imaGenes, a German-based sequencing service provider, to better support the fast growing German market of high-throughput sequencing analyses. According to the announcement, imaGenes will provide all customers receiving Next Generation Sequencing data with a temporary license for CLC Genomics Workbench for assembly and downstream sequence analyses.

Minneapolis, MN (Scicasts) - Medspira, and Mayo Clinic have unveiled that they have entered into an agreement to commercialize, manufacture and market several Mayo Clinic developed products and technologies invented by Mayo physicians and scientists. Mayo Clinic technologies included in the licence agreement are two Radiology products currently available in the market, the Interactive Breath-Hold Control System and the BC-10 MRI Coils, and two technologies that Medspira will develop further, with the intent of making them commercially available in the next 12-24 months. "Medspira is honoured to work with Mayo Clinic where research is a critical part of its commitment to excellence and interdependence in the three areas of research, education and patient care," said Tim Anderson Medspira CEO.

Basel, Switzerland (Scicasts) - Genedata, a provider of in silico solutions for pharmaceutical R&D and related life sciences, has announced a collaboration with the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, to study the effects of air pollution on asthma bronchiale in young children. Genedata will examine the study data and apply Genedata Expressionist to process and analyze transcriptomics data in conjunction with genetic polymorphism and clinical data.