Oncor Inc. said it has acquired American Innovision (AI) todevelop AI's image analysis systems in conjunction withOncor's DNA probe tests for the detection of cancer and othergenetic diseases.

According to Rod Dausch, Oncor's chief financial officer, the dealconsisted of a stock transaction worth $3 million. Oncor(NASDAQ:ONCR) of Gaithersburg, Md., will retain AI, a privatelyheld, San Diego-based company founded in 1984, as a whollyowned subsidiary.

The combination of technologies -- Oncor's proprietary DNAprobe tests and AI's computer-based color image analysis --will automate microscope slide-based DNA probe analysis ofcells, said Steven Turner, Oncor's chairman and chief executiveofficer.

The combined system will be marketed as the Oncor ImageAnalysis System and will provide highly sensitive DNA probetests with improved sensitivity in detecting genetic changes incells.

Dausch said the acquisition is the result of a clinical system thetwo companies had been working on for some time. AIdeveloped the first real color, true-time analysis systemcapable of seeing low-light fluorescent color signals, such asthat emitted from Oncor's DNA probes, Dausch told BioWorld.

"This combined system is unique in that it actually sees lowlevels of true colors; clinicians can actually see and capture truecolor images from a sample and generate hard copies forpatient reports," he said.

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