Reagents Market

After the sequencing of the human genome, the Joint Genome Institute has now moved to determining the genomes of species like extinct cave bears. For the New Biology Economy, this means the use of some reagents, and the use of valuable cycle (and expensive) time on capillary electrophoresis machines and powerful computers, to gain knowledge on finding non-abundant DNA in old, but not really ancient, samples. (June 2 release available on Eurekalert).

More interesting is an article from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (registration required) on Middleton, Wisc.-based Lucigen, which is developing and commercializing technologies to discover new enzymes. Seven-year-old Lucigen, with 15 employees and $400,000 in 2004 revenues, has raised $1 million in angel funding, and has another $5 million in SBIR grants.

In Canada, reagent house Genomics One yesterday announced a $400,000 (US) private placement, expected to close June 8, to be used to fund its bio-defense activities. Genomics One, with its flagship TrueBlue DNA cloning technology, markets its products as BioCan Scientific and has a number of distribution agreements.