Life Technologies non-profit arm awards $1.7m in grants

Life Technologies division Life Technologies Foundation, a non-profit arm working to benefit scientific discoveries and education, has awarded approximately $1.7 million (1.06 million pounds) in new grants.

The funding, which includes foundations working towards the creation of an online biology textbook and building a museum exhibit about the human cell, bring the total amount committed by the foundation in 2009 to around $5 million.

Overall, five grants will be issued to seven organisations whose work is scheduled for completion within the next 18 months.

Chairman of Life Technologies and member of the foundations board of directors Greg Lucier said: "Each of the organisations chosen for this round of grants has proposed a unique and interesting way to enhance the public’s perception of what science contributes to all our lives."

In other Life Technologies news this week, the firm established a partnership with Febit involving a co-marketing agreement to provide a new scalable solution for researchers conducting targeted re-sequencing studies.