TekCel acquires Biophile assets
acquired assets of Biophile that includes its ultra low temperature
(minus 80 degrees C) sample management systems designed for
research applications in the drug discovery industry.
TekCel plan to maintain Biophile's product research and development operations based in Charlottesville. Its CEO Daniel Barchi is expected to remain in his position within the company.
TekCel's acquisition of Biophile's assets includes its flagship technology, an ultra low temperature sample-management systems used by pharmaceutical companies, public health research institutes, and university research laboratories across the US, including Emory University, Virginia Tech's Centre for Comparative Oncology, and Codexis.
A spokesperson told DrugResearcher.com that Tekcel's acquisition of Biophile was a strategic move intended to combine the technologies and resources of both companies and tackle new segments, including genomics and proteomics.
"They both focus on the life science industry although in different sectors," she said, adding that this was an opportunity "to build on the expertise of both R&D departments and each of the established customer bases."
Biophile's ultra low temperature sample storage system provides secure access and complete histories of stored samples. The system's technology enables users to retrieve and store samples in temperatures reaching minus 80 degrees C with no frost build-up.
The sample storage system uses a touchscreen interface providing the point-of-contact for the laboratory manager or technician. The interface catalogs samples and tracks chain-of-custody, while complying with FDA 21 CFR guidelines - a set of federal regulations regarding electronic records and signatures.
In addition, Biophile's Individual Vial Retriever (IVR) extends the advantages of laboratory automation to many drug discovery, repository and other life science applications. Using robotics technology, the IVR performs storage, retrieval, sorting, cataloging, volume estimation (weighing), barcode reading, and re-racking on a vial-by-vial basis, while preserving frozen samples at their optimal temperatures.
