Microsoft has signed an agreement to buy the assets of Rosetta Biosoftware, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck. The move will allow it to add features to its Amalga Life Sciences software for managing genetic, genomic, metabolomic and proteonics research data.

Microsoft also will hire some of Rosetta Biosoftware's 53 employees, but has not decided how many, said Jim Karkanias, senior director of applied research and technology at Microsoft. The financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

Rosetta Biosoftware has spent 10 years building its products -- called Rosetta Resolver, Rosetta Elucidator and Syllego -- for analyzing genetic data and genotyping, among other functions, Karkanias said. Microsoft is also purchasing the patents associated with the software, he said.

As part of the deal, Merck agreed to become a customer for the Amalga Life Sciences and Rosetta Biosoftware products. It will also help Microsoft decide the best way to integrate the two products, Karkanias said.

Microsoft first introduced the Amalga brand with the Amalga Unified Intelligence System, which provides the health-care industry a way to integrate data from various sources to improve access to patient information. In April it expanded the brand and the capabilities of the software with Amalga Life Sciences, to help researchers in that market make better use of their data.