April 5, 2006, Sunnyvale, CA--Molecular Devices has acquired the Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) related business of Arcturus Bioscience for $10 million in cash. According to the company, the deal expands Molecular Devices' life sciences product portfolio to include complete systems and reagents for LCM, a sample preparation technology for genomic and protein analysis. In particular, the combination of LCM products with Molecular Devices' current detection offerings broadens Molecular Devices' life sciences product portfolio and creates complete microgenomics platforms.
Arcturus, founded in 1996 by Thomas Baer, has been a pioneer in the field of LCM (Baer recently assumed the position of executive director of the Stanford Photonics Research Center at Stanford University). The Arcturus LCM platform allows researchers to visualize and selectively excise individual cells or collections of cells from heterogeneous tissue and thus quickly and accurately utilize the smallest and purest cellular samples for further RNA, DNA or protein analysis. Arcturus has more than 1000 LCM systems installed worldwide.
Molecular Devices hired 42 former Arcturus employees that were associated with the LCM business. All of the LCM operations and employees will immediately move to Molecular Devices' headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA. Molecular Devices did not obtain any Arcturus facilities in connection with this transaction.