Nice blurb on Thom Calandra's Stock Watch:
cbs.marketwatch.com
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JMAR: The Nasdaq rally might or might not be losing steam, but two areas, semiconductors and biotechnology, are still hot as an Arabian lunch hour. Indeed, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are saying they have formed what they believe is the first "bionic chip," part living tissue and part machine. See the campus news release. Bionic circuitry could "be useful for developing body implants for treatment of genetic diseases," Boris Rubinsky, the mechanical engineering professor who worked on the new device, said in the statement.
To be sure, the idea of bionic chips -- especially those that can help decipher human gene sequences -- has propelled several stocks, most notably Affymetrix (AFFX: news, msgs), the largest of the DNA chip companies with a $7.5 billion stock market worth. The California-based Affymetrix's computerized arrays size up and analyze genetic information -- for humans and for other living materials, like plants.
One company that might benefit from the combination, JMAR Technologies (JMAR: news, msgs) of San Diego, has been transforming some of its secominductor fabrication plants into biochip factories. JMAR, which operates several companies, states that it owns precision equipment and optical measurement systems "for the rapidly expanding DNA biochip market." Lately, JMAR shares on Nasdaq have been rising rapidly on swelling volume. The stock rose 2 to 13 3/16 Monday morning, up from 5 1/2 at the start of the year and giving it a market capitalization of $240 million.
JMAR's materials state it develops imaging tools that examine polymer and biological cell structures. The company last month said it received orders valued at about $1.8 million from "a leading DNA biochip company" for JMAR's lithography alignment systems.
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