Bio-IT World News Brief | Benchling launched two new products, Benchling for Institutions and Benchling for Startups. The two new products are designed to advance major scientific discoveries where they happen most—research institutions, universities, medical centers, and innovative startups—giving these organizations access to a modern, cloud platform that frees them from busywork and helps them achieve results faster.

Bio-IT World | Advances in microfluidics, the shift from animal-based to cell-based models of drug research, and the ability to grow larger and more perfect protein crystals in microgravity have all helped propel space-based research into a thriving commercial enterprise.

Bio-IT World | A new technique that lights up a protein shuttling LDL cholesterol around the circulatory system has made it financially feasible to do high-throughput screening for cardiovascular drugs as well as measure the size of LDL particles—an important but poorly-understood disease risk factor.