According to a June 2014 Strategic Directions International analysis, the market for handheld devices is the fastest-growing segment among XRF instruments. The data in the report come from a survey of 127 XRF users worldwide. The information in this article was taken from the report, “X-Ray Fluorescence: New Frontiers for a Mature Technology,” which provides […]

Merck KGaA became the latest company to enlarge its stake in the laboratory-products market with its announcement on September 22 of an agreement to purchase Sigma-Aldrich for approximately €13.1 billion ($17 billion = €0.77 = $1) in cash (see page 2). Together, the firms will create a €4.7 billion ($6.1 billion) supplier of laboratory and […]

Solid-supported liquid extraction (SLE) is an efficient sample preparation method that eliminates the need for conditioning, equilibration and washing. Compared to other sample preparation techniques, such as liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), SLE has lower solvent requirements, a greater degree of reproducibility and can be fully automated. Analogous to LLE, SLE uses the same aqueous sample-solvent system […]

PerkinElmer has launched the AlphaPlex reagent technology for multiplex immunoassay analysis. AlphaPlex is based on the company’s Alpha (amplified luminescence proximity homogenous assays) technology, a homogeneous, bead-based, no-wash assay platform. Alpha Technology offerings also include the AlphaLISA and AlphaScreen reagents. Based on the transfer of energy between Donor and Acceptor beads, AlphaPlex can generate multiple […]

Company Announcements In May, Agilent Technologies agreed to distribute Cartagenia’s cloud-based software for CNV analysis, which allows Agilent to sell usage-priced annual licenses to the Bench Lab CNV module to small- and medium-sized cytogenetics labs. In June, PerkinElmer agreed to exclusively commercialize and sell PET-x-ray and 3-D CT imaging systems developed by, or in conjunction […]

Company Announcements In April, Spectro Inc. changed its name to Spectro Scientific. Elcometer opened a Houston, Texas, office in May. In July AMETEK named Werner Mueller as managing director for the Petroleum business unit of AMETEK Oil and Gas, which includes Grabner Instruments and Petrolab. Most recently, he was managing director, Central Eastern Europe at […]

Company Announcements For the fiscal year ending March 31, revenue for Nikon’s Scientific Solutions Business (formerly Life Science and Industrial Systems) grew 15.2% to ¥98,510 million ($983 million), with 80% consisting of Industrial sales and 20% being Life Science sales. Fiscal 2015 segment sales are forecast to increase 5.6%. Zeiss Microscopy sales for the first […]

Company Announcements Thermo Fisher Scientific announced in June the registration of its San Jose, California, facility with the FDA as a medical-device establishment as part of its initiative to develop Class 1 MS-based instruments for the clinical market. Waters announced that Omics’s PetroOrg Petroleomics Software is now available for the SYNAPT G2-Si MS. Waters gained […]

Company Announcements For the first six months, sales for Mettler-Toledo‘s Laboratory business grew 6% excluding currency to roughly $533 million to account for 46% of revenues. First and second quarter Laboratory sales advanced 7% and 6% excluding currency, respectively. Sales growth was driven by increased demand and favorable pricing for analytical instruments and laboratory balances. […]

The UK government made public this month a third-party final report reviewing the country’s food-supply networks and their response to food adulteration in light of the 2013 EU horse-meat incident, when beef products were found to contain horse meat and other products from animals besides cow (see IBO 2/15/13). The government also published a response […]