Bremen, Germany 9/26/17—Scientific instrument firm Bruker has acquired MERLIN Diagnostics, a provider of products and services for Antibiotic Resistance Testing (ART) and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing (AST). MERLIN’s MICRONAUT system enables phenotypic detection of microbial growth inhibition in the presence of antibiotics, and includes AST plates for IVD use. MERLIN’s MICRONAUT software has been available as an interface to Bruker’s MALDI Biotyper. “MERLIN adds expertise and an impressive portfolio of flexible specialty products for antibiotic susceptibility testing to Bruker’s clinical and applied microbiology business,” stated Dr. Wolfgang Pusch, executive vice President for Microbiology & Diagnostics at Bruker Daltonics. “Over time, we expect that MERLIN will further expand our selected, high-value ART and AST assay portfolio for the MALDI Biotyper.” MERLIN will continue its collaborations, distribution partnership and OEM business.

As Bruker has found success for its MALDI Biotyper MS system for pathogen identification, it is now expanding into new applications such as ART and AST. MERLIN provides plates, software and automation for such testing to create a automated workflow for MALDI-TOF MS from sample preparation through reporting. Advantages of MALDI-based ART and AST compared to other techniques include speed, direct detection and throughput.