Illumina Acquires SomaLogic, Sanofi’s New CEO, Parse Bioscience’s New Product Line

By Bio-IT World Staff 

February 26, 2026 | Illumina completes its acquisition of SomaLogic; Sanofi appoints Belén Garijo as chief executive officer; Parse Biosciences launches the new Evercode Whole Transcriptome v4 product line; and more. 

Illumina has completed its acquisition of SomaLogic. The highly complementary proteomics capabilities expand Illumina's multiomics portfolio, strengthening customer access to proteomic insights at scale to help drive faster drug discovery and positively impact health care. Illumina is building new, scalable growth businesses that complement and accelerate its high-throughput sequencing franchise. The acquisition positions Illumina for growth in the expanding proteomics market by increasing customer access to SomaLogic's technologies and service offerings, coupled with Illumina's product innovation and global market reach. Press release. 

Sanofi has appointed Belén Garijo as chief executive officer. She will take up her duties at the end of the Group's Annual General Meeting on April 29, 2026. The Board will also propose to the shareholder vote the candidacy of Belén Garijo as a director of the group. Garijo will bring an increased rigor to the implementation of Sanofi's strategy and accelerate the preparation of the group's future. Her priority will be to strengthen the productivity, governance, and innovation capacity of R&D. Press release.

Parse Biosciences announced the launch of the new Evercode Whole Transcriptome v4 product line. Evercode v4 supports extraordinary scalability of up to 5 million cells and 384 samples in a single run, enabling researchers to design large studies while maintaining sample resolution. The upgraded chemistry increases gene detection per cell while requiring fewer sequencing reads, helping reduce overall sequencing costs. Press release.

Astoriom expanded its sample management capabilities in the U.S. with the acquisition of Precision Stability Storage. This acquisition marks a strategic expansion of Astoriom's footprint in North America, strengthening its presence in high-growth regions for biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technology innovation. Press release.

Volta Labs announced the launch of the Callisto Complete Kit for DNA EF Library Prep. The new solution pairs Watchmaker Genomics' best-in-class NGS sample preparation chemistry with Volta's digital fluidics automation to deliver a fully automated, PCR-free whole genome sequencing (WGS) library preparation workflow. As WGS continues to expand across clinical research and translational settings, PCR-free workflows are increasingly preferred to minimize amplification bias, reduce sequencing artifacts, and enable more uniform genome coverage, particularly in GC-rich regions. However, executing PCR-free library preparation demands precision and reproducibility, making automation critical for labs seeking consistent results without increasing staffing burden. By eliminating manual liquid handling and reducing operator variability, the Callisto Complete Kit enables laboratories to generate reproducible, high-quality libraries while freeing technical staff to focus on higher-value work. Press release.

Watchmaker Genomics also announced a non-exclusive license with Caribou Biosciences for certain foundational CRISPR-Cas9 intellectual property for use in NGS library preparation. While CRISPR-Cas9 technology is  most commonly associated with their unique ability to find and cut for genome editing, Watchmaker is leveraging it in a fundamentally different way: as a programmable, stoichiometric binding tool to address one of the most persistent and under-optimized steps in NGS workflows: library normalization. Press release. 

Synthace announced a collaboration with Charles River. Under the collaboration, Charles River will give its clients access to Synthace's transformative approach to developing, automating and transferring more robust assays, faster and more efficiently than using other methodologies. The collaboration follows a successful proof-of-concept project in which Charles River used Synthace's software to effectively and rapidly develop a 1536-well assay and assay transfer, implementing a design of over 700 experimental conditions across multiple laboratories and equipment. Press release.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has introduced the Thermo Scientific Sequential Protein/DNA/RNA Extraction Kit, a sample preparation solution that enables sequential extraction of protein, DNA, and RNA from a single sample. The kit is designed to address challenges in cancer and disease research where samples are often limited and difficult to replace. By allowing researchers to generate genomic and prsoteomic data from the same biological material, the solution helps enable more direct comparison of results from small or precious samples. Press release.