Next in Line for Sequencing

White Cheek Gibbon

The National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes for Health has released a list of the next 13 organisms to have their genomes sequenced. First off will be a group of nine mammals led by the initial sequencing of small portions of the genome of the Northern white-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys). Eight other mammals -- the 13-lined ground squirrel (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus), the megabat (Cynopterus species), the microbat (Microchiroptera species), the tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri), the bushbaby (Otolemur garnettii), the hyrax (Procavia capensis), the pangolin (Manis species) and the sloth (Bradypus or Choloepus species) – will be subject to low-density draft coverage, or two-fold sequencing. Additional sequencing efforts will involve the M and S strains of a malaria-carrying mosquito (Anopheles gambiae), a roundworm (Heterorhabditis bacteriophora), and the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata).

Through March, India's biotechnology industry has posted more than $1 billion in revenues, up 36 percent year-on-year on exports and vaccine sales, India's Association of Biotechnology-Led Enterprises, said today. The association said exports of biotech products, driven by vaccines and statins and services such as contract research and clinical trials, accounted for 42 percent of total revenues by the industry for the year. It said 45 new firms began operations last year, taking the total number of Indian biotechnology companies to 280. Some 11,800 scientists are employed in the industry.

Fisher Scientific will buy the BioServices unit of Rockville, Md.-based McKesson Corp for $60 milllion in a transaction expected to close at the end of September, the company said today. The business unit offers biological and clinical supply management services for clinical studies.

Correlogic Systems, a Bethesda, Md.-based clinical proteomics company that is developing pattern-recognition technology for the detection of cancer and other diseases, has received an equity infusion from Quest Diagnostics. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.