MADISON, Wisc.—Bioinformatics specialist DNASTAR announced the introduction of a small-college grant program designed to help academic institutions perform at the same level as larger colleges. Under the Rising Star program, for which the company has initially set aside $100,000, colleges can receive up to $2500 in matching funds toward the purchase of the company's Lasergene sequence analysis software.

 

"The goal of this program is to ensure that all colleges and universities, regardless of size or availability of resources, have access to state-of-the-art bioinformatics research tools," said Dr. Fred Blattner, a geneticist at the University of Wisconsin and a founder of DNASTAR. "We have always tried to be innovative when it comes to supporting the academic research community in genomics. The Rising Star initiative will permit us to reach out to those smaller institutions whose primary focus is teaching."