Company Announcements

Hudson Control Group named Dr. Alan H. Katz chief scientific officer. Previously, he led Wyeth Research’s computation chemistry and drug design group.

PaR Systems, a provider of specialized material handling and automation equipment, was acquired in July by MML Capital and PaR Systems management.

BioTrove opened an office in San Carlos, California, in July.

BioTek Instruments and Gyrasol Technologies will comarket their respective Synergy 4 Multi-Mode Microplate Reader and Sensor fluorescence-based assay platform.

In September, BioTek Instruments introduced lease and purchase options from North Star Leasing.

The Associates of Cape Code (ACC) and MDS Analytical Technologies collaborated to launch ACC’s Chromogenic LAL Endotoxin assay kits for MDS’s SpectraMax instrument platform and SoftMax Pro GxP software.

Genetix named Dr. Stephen Game head of R&D, effective November 3. He was previously technology manager for Cellular Sciences at GE Healthcare Life Sciences.

In October, Tecan instituted a new global sales structure divided into three regions. Matthias Düchting, formerly International Sales and Marketing director at Hamilton AG, will head sales for Europe and NEMEA (Russia, the Middle East, Africa, India). Carl Severinghaus will head sales for the Americas, and the head for the Greater Asia region will be hired. Also, Frederic Vanderhaegen, formerly with Millipore, replaced Michael Illek as the head of the Business Unit Detection.

Tecan opened a new Asia Pacific region headquarters in Shanghai, China, in October.

In October, CyBio AG sold its 78% share of the assets of CLS Laborautomationssysteme GmbH, which was dissolved in September, to Manz Automation AG.

Product Introductions

Symyx Technologies introduced Benchtop Systems, which are self-contained systems for automating multiple steps of experimental procedures that are available with standard configurations and applications.

Beckman Coulter introduced four new cartridges for its PARADIGM Detection Platform: two luminescence detection cartridges optimized for 96- and 384-plate formats, a cartridge for BRET2 live cell assays and a Rhodamine fluorescence cartridge for a selection of cyanine dyes.

Velocity11, an Agilent company, introduced the compact, flexible BenchCel R Platform, an integrated benchtop robot and microplate storage solution.

TTP LabTech introduced a bulk dispenser for its mosquito automated nanoliter liquid handler.

MatriCal launched the Automap (Automated MatriCal Assay Platform), an integrated robotic platform for microplate, tube and vial processing in a self-contained environment.