Personalis CEO John West, the former head of Solexa, talks about the clinical expansion plans he has for a company that currently already accounts for 4% of the global DNA and RNA sequencing.

The US Veterans Administration is attracting more interest from drugmakers seeking to grow their foothold in the lucrative – but scientifically challenging – market for CNS disorders. The allure comes from VA’s strong analytics and data crunching capabilities as well as its investigatory and trial management expertise in high-profile areas like traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress and major depression.

US biotech VaxInnate is gaining an additional $53m under its February 2011 contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop vaccines against influenza.

Derived from Strategic Transactions, Informa’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Venture Funding Deals column provides a monthly review of emerging In Vitro Diagnostic, Medical Device, and Pharmaceutical companies that have received venture funding. This month’s column covers deals announced October through November 2014.