Company Announcements

BioTek Instruments and Global Cell Solutions announced a formal collaboration.

BIOCIUS Life Sciences named Wako Pure Chemical Industries its exclusive distributor for Japan.

BIOCIUS opened a European office near Geneva, Switzerland, in May and extended its reseller agreements with AB Sciex and Agilent to include Europe.

Tecan became ForteBio’s preferred automation partner for real time, label-free assays to support bioprocess and drug discovery workflows.

Tecan launched Tecan Australia to provide regional support for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, building on the company’s partnership with AimLab.

In March, Pall and SOTAX announced an exclusive long-term joint marketing agreement for their respective Acrodisc PSF syringe filters and dissolution systems for solid dosage forms.

Robotic Technology Systems named Gary Walsh chief executive in March.

Robotic Technology Systems’ (RTS) 2009 Life Science sales grew 34.8% to £9.3 million ($14.5 million) to make up 79% of company revenues. Segment operating profit before exceptional items was £0.5 million ($781,250), compared to a loss of £0.2 million in 2008 (see IBO 3/31/10).

Eppendorf North America and Akonni Biosystems entered into a joint marketing agreement for their respective epMotion automated pipetting systems and TruTip nucleic acid extraction kits.

Product Introductions

BioTek announced that its Synergy H4 Hybrid Microplate Reader is certified for Cisbio Bioassays’ HTRF assays and Invitrogen’s LanthaScreen assays.

BioTek released the new Elx50 Microplate Strip Washer platform, featuring a modular three-in-one platform.

Hamilton Robotics introduced the CO-RE (compressed o-ring expansion) 384 Shifted Tip Pickup Multichannel Probe Head for the MICROLAB STAR liquid handling platform, which can pick up one column, one row or one tip without changing heads.

Agilent announced a configuration of its BioCel System to fully automate cell-based ELISA procedures.

Freeslate (formerly Symyx High Productivity Research) launched its third-generation Core Module automation system, uniting the Powdernium MtM and the second-generation Core Module into a single, modular product.

Rigaku Americas introduced the Desktop Alchemist liquid handling system for protein crystallization, which can dispense reagents from ethanol to 100% glycerol.

Copley Scientific launched the Dissolution Tester DIS-EMC (enhanced mechanical calibration), featuring an internal diameter tolerance and blemish-free spherical ratio of +/- 0.13 mm.