Roche Diagnostics is buying 454 Life Sciences, manufacturer of the 454 Sequencer.

Kevin Davies spoke with Jonathan Rothberg, the founder of 454 Life Sciences, on the eve of the publication of his company's landmark paper in Nature.

A new environment for pharmaceutical companies is on the horizon and it will be the fittest who survive, predicts Ian Nisbet.

A two-year, US$2.4 million federal grant will help 454 Life Sciences to apply its technology to sequencing larger genomes, starting with fungi, and eventually moving to individual human genome sequencing, according to the firm's president and CEO Dick Begley.

Sequenom has blamed a saturation point in high-throughput genotyping for a first-quarter net loss of US$9.9 million, or $0.25 per share, compared to $8.5 million, or $0.22 per share in the same period of last year.

Genetics company Sequenom improved its Q4 net loss to US$10 million, or $0.25 per share, compared to $45.8 million, or $1.16 per share, in the same period of the previous year.