Affymetrix Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., has announced that it has begun a collaboration with the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, the University of Tübingen in Germany and the NHS Regional Genetics Laboratory in Birmingham, UK, to investigate mental retardation in children. The partners will use the company’s microarray technology to search for mutations, copy number variants and loss of heterozygosity in subjects’ genomes. The institutions hope that the information gathered will help them better understand the causes of congenital abnormalities and retardation.

In other news, the Affymetrix Clinical Services Laboratory signed a co-marketing agreement with Docro Inc. of Seymour, Conn. The companies will assist clients in gaining FDA approval and clearance for in vitro diagnostic biomarker technologies. Validation and regulatory clinical trial resources and services available to customers of the laboratory will include protocol design, patient recruitment and clinical sample procurement.