Beckman Instruments Inc. of Fullerton, Calif., announced that itis one of a consortium of companies that has received a $9.23million matching grant from the U.S. Department of Commerceto develop technologies that could speed the process of DNAanalysis. The award was announced Dec. 17 by CommerceSecretary Barbara Hackman Franklin. The technology indevelopment, called "genosensors," could increase the speedand decrease the cost of genome mapping and sequencing,making DNA analyzers potentially more useful in medicaldiagnostics, forensics, drug development and agriculturalresearch. Other companies in the consortium include BaylorCollege of Medicine, Genosys Biotechnologies Inc., HoustonAdvanced Research Center, Laboratories for Genetic Services,Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Microfab TechnologiesInc., and Triplex Pharmaceutical Corp..

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