¿ Aclara Biosciences Inc., of Hayward, Calif., and PE Biosystems, of Foster City, Calif., are collaborating with The R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute a subsidiary of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson to develop an ultra-high-throughput screening platform using microfluidic devices. The platforms are intended to accommodate a broad class of assay types with 100 to 1,000-fold reductions in reagent consumption.

¿ Affymetrix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., and deCODE genetics Inc., of Reykjavik, Iceland, entered into an agreement under which deCODE gained access to GeneChip technology for use in gene expression monitoring and genotyping applications. The companies will continue their work focused on optimizing chip-based SNP genotyping applications.

¿ Alteon Inc., of Ramsey, N.J., said after meetings with consultants and the FDA it decided to seek a new partner to help fund continued development of pimagedine, a compound designed to inhibit progression of kidney disease in Type I diabetics. The company will explore the possibility of a Phase III pivotal program with urinary protein as the primary endpoint, which it met in a previous trial although it didn¿t reach statistical significance in the primary endpoint ¿ reducing the risk of doubling of serum creatinine.

¿ Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Irvine, Calif., received notification of a $100,000 small business innovation research grant from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The award will support ongoing research into AMPA-modulating compounds for treating patients who had a recent stroke, head injury or brain surgery.

¿ Hyseq Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., said it identified a second gene in the intlerleukin-1 family, a gene encoding IL-1Hy2. In July 1998 the company disclosed identification of another IL-1 receptor antagonist, IL-1Hy1.

¿ Lexicon Genetics Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas, and Cephalon Inc., of West Chester, Pa., entered a multi-year functional genomics agreement for the rapid engineering of custom knockout mice. Cephalon will specify genes of interest as targets and Lexicon will produce knockout mice using its homologous recombination technologies. Terms were not disclosed.

¿ PE Biosystems, of Foster City, Calif., received an exclusive license to a Cornell University patent involving array technology that provides a universal chip platform for mutation detection in research applications.

¿ Trinity Biotech plc, of Dublin, Ireland, said its shares started trading on the Dublin Stock Exchange. Shares of the diagnostics company already trade on Nasdaq.

¿ Viragen Inc., of Plantation, Fla., said it applied with regulatory authorities in the U.K. to begin testing Omniferon, a natural interferon alpha product being developed for hepatitis C. n