Millipore Forms Collaboration with Agilent Technologies to Expand Capabilities in Epigenetics Market

Companies to Develop ChIP-on-Chip Kits to Enhance Protein Research

Millipore Corporation (NYSE: MIL) and Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced they have formed a collaboration to develop innovative ChIP (chromatin immunoprecipitation) kits for the fast-growing epigenetics research market. The kits will be designed to improve protein researchers’ productivity and simplify the way they study genetic information.

ChIP is a technique that helps researchers understand the relationship between DNA and the proteins that impact gene regulation. The collaboration will combine Millipore’s expertise in antibodies, ChIP kits and reagents with Agilent’s leading position in microarrays and data analysis solutions.

“This collaboration brings together two industry leaders to improve scientific workflows for epigenetic researchers,” said Geoffrey Crouse, vice president of Millipore’s Life Science Strategic Business Unit. “Our long history of leadership in the ChIP market coupled with Agilent’s leadership in DNA microarrays will enable us to help scientists push the frontiers of epigenetic research. We expect to help epigenetics researchers minimize the barriers of entry into chromatin state mapping, readily obtain reproducible genomic profiling data, and overcome the traditional challenges of ChIP assays.”

“We are very pleased to be working with Millipore to provide an end-to-end solution for studying the complexities of DNA-protein interactions and binding,” said Yvonne Linney, Ph.D., Agilent vice president and general manager, Genomics. “Our two companies are solidly positioned to fuel discoveries in this rapidly growing field.”

Millipore is the premier provider of ChIP kits and reagents for epigenetics and chromatin remodeling for the research marketplace. Millipore supplies more than 1,300 immunological reagents to assist researchers in studying the role of epigenetic mechanisms such as histone modification, chromatin remodeling, and gene regulation by transcription factors; DNA methylation; and regulatory RNAs.

Agilent pioneered ChIP-on-chip technology by introducing the first microarray-based solution in 2005, having acquired Computational Biology Corporation founded by professors David Gifford and Richard Young at MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.