Biotech grabs a big slice of Genome project. (Collaborative Research Inc.; contracts on The Human Genome Project or chemical mapping of the sequence of human DNA) (company profile)

Biotech grabs a big slice of Genome pie

After 30 years, Collaborative Research Inc. has chalked up its share of would-be biotech blockbusters: technology that pinpointed the gene that causes cystic fibrosis, the most comprehensive map of human DNA developed in the '80s and a line of laboratory plasticware that grows finicky cells.

Good, solid research has done nothing for the Bedford company's bottom line, however, as reflected by Collaborative's eight straight years of losses.

But this month, gene sleuthing for the benefit of all science grew more worthwhile for Collaborative (NASDAQ: CRIC), which received portions of three grants, totaling $3 million over the next three years, from the multi-billion-dollar Human Genome Project.

The Human …