CEA-Leti (headquartered in Grenoble, France) and Yamatake Corporation
(headquartered in Tokyo, Japan) have announced today their agreement
to collaborate on the development of next-generation in situ synthesized
biochips and automation technology for manufacturing related in
situ synthesized DNA chips.
Biochips are microsystems for biology. Their goal is to perform in a short delay time and on a few cm2 surface biological analysis which were, up to now, time consuming and quite tedious. Biochips offer scientific and industrial future prospects for a large field of applications : biological research (mainly functionnal genomics), detection of genetic diseases, food control...
CEA-Leti owns patents and proprietary knowledge relating to oligonucleotide arrays for DNA biochip technology. Yamatake has expertise in MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) and automated manufacturing equipment developed for its in-house just-in-time production systems. By integrating their unique technologies, the two companies aim to achieve the key objective of their collaboration, that is, the development of next-generation in situ synthesized DNA chips and related automated manufacturing systems. Yamatake has already begun marketing survey, prototyping, and developing business for advanced in situ synthesized biochips and related automated manufacturing systems in response to the demand for custom-designed in situ synthesized biochips, with technical assistance provided by CEA- Leti .
"We expect this biochip technology will lead to creating one of Yamatake's future core businesses in the rapidly growing bio-market. We are extremely pleased to work with CEA-Leti in the field of Biochip technology. We expect that this cooperation will be further extended to other programs and technologies" said Akira Hosojima, Director of Research and Development Headquarters, Yamatake.
"We are extremely satisfied with this new collaboration with Yamatake with which we established commercial relations a few years ago in the field of miniaturized hygrometers. We compliment them on their desire to develop their activities in the field of new tools for biology and will do our utmost for this development to achieve industrial and commercial success in a very competitive leading edge market" said Jean Therme, Director of CEA Leti.
About CEA-Leti:
CEA-Leti Laboratory is at the leading edge of European microelectronics and microtechnologies research. With its 110 patents filed per year and its 28 start-ups created or being created, it ranks among the major partners of the industrial world.
CEA (Atomic Energy Commission of France) is a polyvalent scientific and technological research organization, specialized in the field of nuclear power, both civil and military, new energy technologies, information and communication infrastructures and biotechnologies. Its ability to combine fundamental research and valorization in an industrial framework enables it to play a leading role in innovation. Some 16,000 people are employed at CEA on 10 sites in France.
http://www.cea.fr/
About Yamatake Corporation:
For over 90 years, Yamatake has been providing innovative solutions in the fields of process automation, building automation, and factory automation. With our R&D center and nine manufacturing facilities, we pioneer new technologies in measurement and control to provide state-of-the-art systems and products that can boost productivity, safety and convenience while reducing energy usage and running costs. The company is also applying its unique technologies to the development of new businesses in the fields of energy conservation, assisted care for the elderly, food safety and agriculture. The Yamatake Group employs approximately 7,000 persons worldwide and had sales of about $1.4 billion (USD) in 2001. http://www.yamatake.co.jp
Press information:
CEA :
Alexandra Bender
email :alexandra.bender@cea.fr
Phone +33 (0) 1 40 56 17 16
Fax +33 (0)1 40 56 28 92
Yamatake Corporation:
Phone +81-3-3486-2451
Fax +81-3-3486-2190
E-mail :news_release@jp.yamatake.com
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