Fluidigm Signs Additional Strategic Agreements with In-Q-Tel for Continued Development of Nanofluidic-Based Sequence Detection
Monday March 20, 2:00 pm ET
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 20, 2006--Fluidigm Corporation today announced a strategic agreement with In-Q-Tel, an independent, private, not-for-profit company established by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to further develop Fluidigm's integrated fluidic circuit (IFC) technology--informally called chips--for sequence detection applications. This marks the second development agreement between Fluidigm and In-Q-Tel, and it comes on the heels of Fluidigm's success in completing all deliverables associated with an agreement signed in 2004.
"In-Q-Tel is pleased that Fluidigm has successfully completed all its milestones, associated with last year's development deal," said Amit Yoran, In-Q-Tel's President and CEO. "Various sequence detection applications were demonstrated, providing unique capabilities that we anticipate will be of interest to the CIA, and potentially other IC customers."
"The deal provides us with the opportunity to concurrently finish development of our next product line and provide value to the government with newly enhanced detection capabilities," said Gajus Worthington, President and CEO of Fluidigm Corporation.
Fluidigm Corporation was founded in 1999 to commercialize a breakthrough process for fabricating IFCs, which are micro-mechanical chips for fluid handling. IFCs are analogous to integrated electronic circuits of the semiconductor industry because they incorporate a dense array of miniaturized elements that can be easily configured for different applications; however, IFCs are designed to regulate nanoliter-scale fluids, rather than electrons, making them ideal for biological applications, in which sample is often scarce. The fluids are manipulated by means of channels, active valves and various other elements densely patterned into silicone layers. IFC fabrication methods make it possible to integrate hundreds of thousands of biochemical reactions in an area roughly the size of a microscope slide.
About Fluidigm
Fluidigm develops and distributes systems based on integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) for analysis and synthesis of biomolecules in nano- and pico-volume environments. The company's vision is to create and to lead a new industry in which IFCs deliver previously inconceivable efficiencies to diverse fields. Fluidigm currently markets the TOPAZ® chip as well as hardware, software and consumables for protein crystallization and is developing its dynamic array and digital array IFCs as a system for high-throughput analysis of nucleic acids and proteins and detection of very rare sequences in a high-background sample. Based in South San Francisco, California, the Company is privately held and backed by premier investors: Versant Ventures, EuclidSR Partners, InterWest Partners, Lehman Brothers Healthcare Fund, Bruce Burrows, the Singapore EDB, Lilly BioVentures, the Invus Group, GE Equity, SightLine Partners, and Alloy Ventures.
About In-Q-Tel
In-Q-Tel is a private, independent, not-for-profit venture group established by the CIA. Launched in 1999, our mission is to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve United States national security interests. Working from an evolving strategic blueprint defining the Intelligence Community's critical technology needs, In-Q-Tel engages with entrepreneurs, established companies, researchers, and venture capitalists to deliver technologies that pay out in superior intelligence capabilities for the CIA, DIA, FBI, NGA, and the larger Intelligence Community (IC). In-Q-Tel concentrates on three broad commercial technology areas: software, infrastructure and physical and biological materials. To date, In-Q-Tel has engaged with nearly 90 companies and delivered more than 120 technology solutions to the IC. To learn more about In-Q-Tel, please visit www.in-q-tel.org. |
