Amazon founder and brainiac Jeff Bezos donates $15 million to Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Jeff Bezos

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen isn’t the only Seattle billionaire interested in the study of the brain. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos today announced that he’s donating $15 million to the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, creating what will be called the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics. Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, graduated from Princeton with honors. The new… Read More…

Startup Spotlight: Vizua looks to bring medical image viewing into the future

vizua-Dean headshot1

Started by former Microsoft employees and a French scientist, Vizua is looking to transform the way radiologists share MRI, CT and ultrasound scans. Historically, radiologists would send a CD full of images via the mail to colleagues for second opinions. But with Vizua, they can upload the images to a private cloud where they can be… Read More…

NanoString lands $20 million

nanostring

NanoString Technologies, a maker of genomic analysis tools, has raised $20 million in venture capital financing in a deal led by GE, BioMed Ventures and former Genzyme CEO Henri Termeer. Existing investors Clarus Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and OVP Venture Partners also participated. The money will be used to grow the company’s life sciences tools business,… Read More…

Biotech veteran Henney inducted into Hall of Fame

immunex

Biotech pioneer Christopher Henney has been inducted into the industry’s Hall of Fame, with the announcement made at the annual Biotech CEO Meeting in Laguna Beach, California. Henney is credited with co-founding Immunex, Dendreon and Icos, three of the most important biotechnology companies to emerge in the Seattle area in the past 30 years He… Read More…

Ultrasound on the go? Smartphone-based imaging system released by Mobisante

mobisante-device-small

Ultrasound systems can be bulky and expensive. But a Redmond company by the name of Mobisante is looking to transform the industry with a new technology that turns a smartphone into a miniature ultrasound device. Mobisante is expected to begin selling the $7,495 ultrasound attachment this month, with BusinessWeek noting that some top-end portable ultrasound… Read More…

Venture capitalist Thong Le tapped as chair of biotech group

le-thong2

Thong Le, the managing director of WRF Capital, has been named chairman of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association. Le was named vice chairman of the state’s leading biotechnology lobbying group in January, and assumed the new position from outgoing chairman Tom Clement recently. Le will remain employed at WRF Capital, a Seattle venture capital… Read More…

Calypso’s GPS system for tumor tracking acquired for $10M

calypso

Calypso Medical Technologies, a Seattle company which has developed a system to pinpoint tumors in the body, has been acquired for $10 million by Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, California. The deal also is subject to earn-out provisions based on unit sales of the Calypso medical device over the next 30 months. Nonetheless, the… Read More…

RF Surgical raises $12 million to detect lost surgical sponges

rf

RF Surgical Systems has raised $12 million, money that the Bellevue company will use to enhance its RFID technology for locating surgical sponges that doctors inadvertently leave behind during medical procedures. Investors in the round include Split Rock Partners, Menlo Ventures and Stanford University. The company released its RF Assure Detection System in November 2010, and since… Read More…

Theraclone Sciences raises $10M

theraclone11

Theraclone Sciences, a Seattle biotechnology company that’s developing a method to rapidly identify disease-fighting antivbodies, has attracted $10.6 million. Investors in the deal include ARCH Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, MPM Capital, Healthcare Ventures, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Amgen Ventures and Zenyaku Kogyo “The anticipated near-term initiation of Theraclone’s first clinical trial and our discovery collaboration with Pfizer earlier… Read More…

Cell imaging company Amnis acquired by EMD Millipore

amnis

Amnis, a 12-year-old Seattle company which provides high-speed cell imaging instruments, has been sold to EMD Millipore for an undisclosed price. EMD is a division of Merck KGaA of Germany, and the company plans to use the technology to grow its presence in the market for image flow cytometry. Led by co-founder and CEO David… Read More…