• Caliper Life Sciences (Hopkinton, Massachusetts) reported the launch of the Caliper LabChip EZ Reader series, delivering a range of products for in-house kinase profiling. The series, which complements the existing LabChip 3000 system, Caliper's system for drug discovery, includes the new EZ Reader II system, a bench-top reader to use for real-time kinetic analysis with push-button operation, and the EZ Reader system, formerly the DeskTop Profiler system. Each product in the EZ Reader series uses Caliper's LabChip microfluidic-based screening technology to yield reproducible data to help pharmaceutical researchers more confidently qualify potential lead candidates. The EZ Reader series features systems that rapidly profile compounds against a diverse kinase panel. The system features a four-sipper Caliper LabChip microfluidic device, while the EZ Reader II system provides a choice of either a 4-sipper or a 12-sipper LabChip device to run assays with up to three times higher throughput. Caliper Life Sciences provides technologies enabling researchers in the life sciences to create life-saving and enhancing medicines and diagnostic tests more quickly and efficiently.

• Study results recently published in the Journal of Academic Radiology indicate that breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) provides higher sensitivity for the detection of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) than mammography or MRI and can reliably detect small, sub-centimeter lesions. The study evaluated the technology on women with mammographically suspicious microcalicifications and other high risk factors. BSGI was performed with the Dilon Technologies' (Newport News, Virginia]) Dilon 6800, a molecular breast imaging technique that can see lesions independent of tissue density and discover very early stage cancers. BSGI serves as a complementary diagnostic adjunct procedure to mammography and ultrasound for difficult- todiagnose patients. With BSGI, the patient receives a radioactive tracing agent that is absorbed by all the cells in the body. Cancerous cells in the breast, due to their increased rate of metabolic activity, absorb a greater amount of the tracing agent than normal, healthy cells and generally appear as "hot spots" on the BSGI image. BSGI is ideal for patients with mammograms that are difficult to interpret due to a variety of factors, such as: dense breast tissue, suspicious areas on a mammogram, lumps that can be felt but not seen with mammography or ultrasound, implants and breast augmentation, scarring from previous surgeries and for women with a strong positive family history of breast cancer. Dilon Technologies makes medical imaging products.

• Xenomics (New York) reported that its first diagnostic test for stratification of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is available for clinicians. AML is the most common form of acute leukemia with about 13,400 new cases expected in 2007 in the U.S. The new test is based on a recent discovery of Drs. Falini and Mecucci at the Institute of Hematology at the University of Perugia (Perugia, Italy) that mutations in a nucleophosmin (NPM1) gene are characteristic of 30% to 40% of the cases of AML. NPM1 is a protein involved in regulation of ribosome biogenesis, cell division, cell death, and other important processes. Xenomics has obtained an exclusive license for the invention and developed a test that detects all 45 known mutations of NPM1 in a single reaction. The results will help physicians with prognosis, therapy, and monitoring of the disease. Stratification of AML patients is also necessary for anti-AML drug clinical trials. Xenomics makes next-generation medical diagnostic technologies.