The University of Vermont (UVM) College of Medicine is collaborating with Applied Imaging's wholly owned subsidiary, CTC Inc., on technology to detect and evaluate tumor cells in a routine blood sample using cell selection technology and Applied Imaging's Ariol automated cell imaging system. David Krag, MD, a professor of surgical oncology at UVM, will lead the program. . . . HealthLinx Pty. Ltd., based in Melbourne, Australia, announced it will collaborate with Bruker Daltonics Inc. to develop disease-specific assays using Bruker Daltonics' mass spectrometer technology and ClinProt magnetic bead sample preparation. HealthLinx will initially produce an ovarian cancer diagnostic test kit. . . . Varian Medical Systems, a Palo Alto, Calif., maker of cancer therapy systems and a supplier of x-ray tubes and flat-panel digital systems for medical, scientific and industrial imaging applications, announced it has developed an x-ray linear accelerator to scan loaded cargo containers. Varian said the accelerator included software to quickly analyze the resulting x-ray images for identification of dangerous materials. It is intended for original equipment manufacturers and system integrators who build cargo screening vehicles and facilities for seaports and airports.