Hercules, CA 1/16/17; Billerica, MA 1/16/17—Life science research and clinical diagnostics products firm Bio-Rad Laboratories has acquired RainDance Technologies for an undisclosed amount. RainDance Technologies’ droplet microfluidic technology enables ultra-sensitive detection of genetic variations. “The company’s droplet-based solutions will extend our reach into next generation sequencing applications and strengthen our position in the area of Droplet Digital PCR,” said Bio-Rad President and CEO Norman Schwartz. “We look forward to expanding our offering to provide life science and clinical diagnostics customers with solutions for a wide range of nucleic acid detection applications.” The purchase is expected to close in the first quarter.

RainDance sells the RainDrop Digital PCR, and ThunderStorm and ThunderBolts Next-Generation Sequence Enrichment systems. Both Bio-Rad and RainDance offer digital PCR systems (see Market Profile), with RainDance’s system utilizing microfluidic components to produce a higher number of reactions per sample. The acquisition further expands Bio-Rad’s genomic offerings.  Later this year, Bio-Rad plans to introduce its first sequencing system.