Peaks of Interest

Charles Lieber to deliver plenary lecture at Pittcon 2007

The Pittsburgh Conference (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) announced that Charles M. Lieber will deliver a plenary lecture entitled "Nanowire Nanoelectronic Devices for Detection of and Interfacing to Biological Systems" at Pittcon 2007, 25 February–2 March 2007, in Chicago, IL. The lecture will begin the conference's technical program on Sunday, 25 February 2007.

Lieber is the Mark Hyman Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University. He holds joint appointments in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Delta receives accreditation

Delta Technical Products Company (Des Plaines, Illinois) received ISO 17025 accreditation from the International Laboratory Assessment and Accreditation organization. The company offers maintenance and compliance services for chromatography instrumentation. This accreditation validates Delta as an industry leader in instrument maintenance and calibration services.

Waters acquires Thermometric

Waters Corporation (Milford, Massachusetts) announced that the company has acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of Thermometric AB (Charlotte, North Carolina). Thermometric produces high-performance microcalorimeters.

Waters said that Thermometric has yearly sales of nearly $4 million and the company expects the transaction to be neutral to its earnings for fiscal 2006. The company is holding positions in the complementary analytical technologies called liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis.

President of TA Instruments, Terry Kelly commented, "The technologies and products from Thermometric are complementary to our leading position in thermal analysis and will allow us to expand our business into new applications."

W.R. Grace Expands in China

W.R. Grace & Co. (Deerfield, Illinois) is increasing its presence in China with the creation of a subsidiary and technical service center in Shanghai and the expansion of an office in Guangzhou. The new Shanghai center is focused on sealants, closures, and coatings for containers. The Guangzhou office, opened in 2000, has been doubled in size.

"We are working to support the fast-moving development of the Chinese pharmaceutical industry with its strength in innovation, manufacturing, and marketing of chromatography products," CEO Fred Festa said in a statement.

Grace employs more than 225 in four manufacturing, four sales and four technical service centers throughout China. Revenues from the region were $403.2 million in 2005, an increase of 15.5% from the prior year.