Agilent to acquire Silicon Genetics

With the addition of Silicon Genetics' genomics data analysis and management tools to its portfolio, Agilent will become a market leader in life science informatics. The acquisition is subject to closing conditions, and financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. "Silicon Genetics brings Agilent an outstanding informatics product portfolio and a strong team of people with extensive experience in software development, marketing, sales and support," said Fran DiNuzzo, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Integrated Biology Solutions business. "Our combined organizations will offer customers an unparalleled range of informatics solutions spanning applications in gene expression, genotyping and protein identification." Silicon Genetics, privately held, has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in North America with inclusion on the Deloitte Technology FAST 500 and several other industry rankings. Silicon Genetics' customers include more than 600 leading pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and major research organizations around the world. Based in Redwood City, Calif., Silicon Genetics employs 50 people, most of whom are expected to join Agilent. Together, the staffs of Silicon Genetics and Agilent will form a life science informatics team that will be an incubator for informatics products spanning DNA, RNA, protein and pathway applications. The team will work on developing the products of Silicon Genetics, the Agilent Spectrum Mill proteomics workbench, the Agilent Synapsia informatics workbench and more. "We plan to continue development and support of each of these product lines with a commitment to openness, industry standards, and interoperability with other instrument hardware and software providers," said DiNuzzo. "We see informatics as a key to advancing integrated biological research, and our goal is to provide customers with functionality in new research areas to enhance their productivity, creativity and research success."