Peaks of Interest

Agilent to open training center in Shanghai

Agilent (Palo Alto, California) recently announced plans to open a new training center in Shanghai, China. The center will train scientists across the Asia-Pacific region on key measurement technologies used in food safety, environmental testing, petrochemical testing, pharmaceutical testing, and life sciences.

Animal Testing and Preclinical Development

The new training center will be located next to Agilent's R&D and manufacturing center in Shanghai and will serve scientists from the industrial, government, and academic sectors within China and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Bruker Daltonics selected by Department of Homeland Security

Bruker Daltonics NBC Detection Corporation (Billerica, Massachusetts) has received a $0.75 million follow-on Phase II contract award from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for further research and development into the Autonomous Rapid Facility Chemical Agent Monitor (ARFCAM). ARFCAM is intended to be the next generation chemical agent monitor for government facilities.

Thermo Electron completes Kendro acquisition

Thermo Electron (Waltham, Massachuets) has completed its acquisition of Kendro Laboratory Products (Charlotte, North Carolina).

In January, Thermo Electron had signed an agreement to acquire Kendro for $833.5 million. Kendro is a global leader in sample preparation products and services for life science, material science, and drug discovery applications.

Marijn E. Dekkers, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Electron, said, "Thermo is focused on providing total laboratory solutions and services to address our customers' needs, and Kendro's technologies nicely complement our existing portfolio of products and services."

Whatman appoints chief executive

Whatman (Clifton, New Jersey) recently appointed Timothy J. Haines chief executive.

Haines has a broad range of international management experience in the life sciences industry and was chief executive of Astex Technology (Cambridge, U.K.) for five years.

Tom McNally, a non-executive director of Whatman, has taken executive responsibility for R&D, business development, and sales. McNally will continue in this role as long as necessary and will then return to a non-executive position.