febit reports successful 2006

febit biotech gmbh sucessfully completed the year 2006. The new sales team lead by Russell Golson, Director Sales & Services, acquired important reference institutions as new customers for the DNA analysis platform Geniom^®.Besides the revenue from hardware, software and service sales, febit additionally benefits from the cooperation with the new customers: within the framework of collaborative research efforts, febit develops a growing spectrum of novel applications and methodologies for Geniom.

For instance, the University of Leicester became another important reference customer and a valuable strategic partner. As the second high-ranking institute in the UK – after the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (WTCHG) in Oxford – the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester headed by Prof. Anthony Brookes opted for Geniom and decided to order two instruments straight away. A Leicester/febit cooperative research effort aims at the automation of the dynamic allele-specific hybridization (DASH) by implementing this advanced methodology developed by Brookes and coworkers on the Geniom biochip. DASH enables a much more precise analysis of human single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) than any other method currently available on the market. The febit team developed a dedicated software module for DASH on Geniom and supports the Leicester team with scientific and technical input.

Besides SNP typing and dynamic detection, febit developed additional ground-breaking uses for the Geniom technology in 2006, e.g. in the areas of PCR-on-chip, pathogen typing and microRNA.

febit biotech gmbh was selected from over 1200 applicants as one of the “landmarks“ in the 2006 “Land of Ideas“ initiative of the federal government. The landmarks represent hotspots of innovative power and future-oriented creativity in Germany. In 2007, febit envisages a significant expansion of the Geniom product spectrum including applications at the next level of automation and Geniom´s leap into the field of synthetic biology. Leveraging these developments, febit expects to strengthen its position in the rapidly growing market of array analysis, opening up new business segments.

In June 2006, febit founded its independently operating US branch: febit inc., based at Medford, MA, in the Boston metropolitan area, already built up the required infrastructure which includes an applications lab for customers. Thus, 2006 saw febit make a successful entry into the world´s largest biochip market: important cooperations were established and promising customer contacts were acquired.