The dealmaking column is a survey of recent transactions, including strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions, and financings, in the life sciences industries. Deals are listed by the following industry sectors: in vitro diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and research/analytical instrumentation and reagents. All transactions are excerpted from Windhover's Strategic Transactions database, providing comprehensive transaction coverage from 1991 to the present.

The dealmaking column is a survey of recent transactions, including strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions, and financings, in the life sciences industries. Deals are listed by the following industry sectors: in vitro diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and research/analytical instrumentation and reagents. All transactions are excerpted from Windhover's Strategic Transactions database, providing comprehensive transaction coverage from 1991 to the present.

Automated medium- and high-throughput ion channel screening systems promise to jump start the search for ion channel modulating drugs, a vast and promising area of drug discovery. In Vivo Europe Rx looks at Sophion Bioscience, Nanion Technologies, and Xention Discovery, three emerging European firms whose platforms may help return ion channels to the forefront of biotech and pharmaceutical companies' discovery targets.

Data mining start-up ReceptorBase Inc. has been validating its service model by prospecting GPCRs, a family of receptors known to hold more pharmaceutical riches than any other. Focusing on receptor protein function, the company applies empirical data from known small molecules to search out atomic binding sites. It then uses proprietary computational methods to predict compound designs that are mostly likely to hit the right target.