Peaks of Interest

Thermo opens center in India

Thermo Electron Corporation (Waltham, Massachusetts) has recently announced the opening of a customer demonstration laboratory in Mumbai, India. The center will serve local pharmaceutical, petroleum/petrochemical, automobile, environmental, and agricultural market sectors and will be equipped with demonstration and training facilities.

Process Analytical Technology in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industries

The center will house laboratory and life sciences solutions, including ion trap and triple quadrupole mass spectrometers, centrifuges, incubators, and microplate instruments.

Thermo started operations in India eight years ago. This facility now serves as a center for Asian operations and is becoming a central point for supply chain management and logistics for Thermo worldwide.

Agilent Technologies acquires Molecular Imaging Corp.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (Palo Alto, California) recently announced its acquisition of Molecular Imaging Corp. (Tempe, Arizona), a developer and manufacturer of nanotechnology measurement tools.

Molecular Imaging is known for its atomic force microscopes (AFMs), the principal imaging and measurement instruments used by researchers in nanotechnology. AFMs are used to measure the shape and properties of materials at the nanometer scale.

Agilent already has a solid position in the laser interferometer market to precisely measure distances at the nanometer scale, and this acquisition will strengthen the company's market position by extending into imaging at the nanometer scale.

Grace acquires Indian chromatography company

W. R. Grace & Co. (Columbia, Maryland) announced recently that it has acquired Flexit Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. (Pune, India), a manufacturer and supplier of chromatography products.

Flexit is a privately held company that manufactures columns and accessories for high performance liquid chromatography and solid-phase extraction. Flexit will be integrated into the discovery sciences business of the company's chemicals segment.

"This acquisition reflects our commitment to growing our discovery sciences business as well as our presence in India," said Greg Poling, president of Grace Davison. "We are constantly evaluating opportunities in the Asia Pacific region that fit our strategy to expand our infrastructure, enhance our material science competencies, and allow us to better support our customers' needs."