A Medical Device Daily

Genpathway (San Diego) reported that it has entered into a worldwide services agreement with Affymetrix (Santa Clara, California) whereby Genpathway will provide ChIP (chromatin immunoprecipitation)-on-Chip assays, services and analysis to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic/institutional researchers using the new Affymetrix GeneChip Tiling Array Systems.

The recently launched GeneChip Tiling Array product line enables researchers to identify specific DNA sequences, including those involved in DNA-protein interactions, at the whole-genome scale. When applied to ChIP-on-Chip, these new assays enable comprehensive discovery of binding sites for transcription factors and co-regulators and the genes they regulate, as well as genes undergoing active transcription, across entire genomes.

Combining Genpathway's assays and expertise in chromatin immunoprecipitation with the Affymetrix GeneChip Tiling Arrays provides researchers working on a wide range of genomes a complete ChIP-on-Chip discovery solution.

“With this agreement, researchers in any laboratory can have instant access to ChIP-on-Chip data generated by Affymetrix GeneChip Tiling Arrays. This information will enable them to look beyond the known protein-coding gene sequences to thoroughly study gene structure, function, and regulation,” said Lianne McLean, senior director, gene expression marketing at Affymetrix.

Genpathway's transcription-based assays include TranscriptionPath, which directly analyzes the process of transcription, and FactorPath, which directly analyzes how genes are regulated by transcription factors and co-regulating factors. These two types of direct DNA-based assays may be used separately or in combination to correlate changes in gene regulation and transcription.

In other agreements news:

• Medhost (Addison, Texas), a provider of full-suite emergency department information systems (EDIS), said that Catholic Health System (CHS) would install Medhost in its Kenmore Mercy Hospital (Kenmore, New York).

CHS said its decision was based on the “outstanding results” that Medhost has already achieved in two other CHS facilities, where Medhost has helped the hospitals increase patient safety, reduce wait times and increase revenues by improving charge capture.

As part of the EDIS installation, Medhost's team of clinicians will provide Kenmore Mercy with extensive consulting, customer support and in-depth, on-site training.

• I-Flow (Lake Forest, California) reported an agreement with a group purchasing organization (GPO), Broadlane (San Francisco), to make the ON-Q PainBuster Post-Op Pain Relief System available to its customers.

The ON-Q PainBuster Post-Op Pain Relief System is “the only post-surgical non-narcotic” pain pump on contract with Broadlane, I-Flow said.

The agreement with Broadlane makes ON-Q more readily available in a large number of healthcare facilities across the U.S. Broadlane serves more than 915 acute-care hospitals, 2,600 sub-acute care facilities and 18,000 physician practices, the company said.