Invitrogen buys into nanotechnology as R&D tool

Invitrogen, already a major player in drug discovery products, will now absorb Quantum Dot Corp and the BioPixels business unit of BioCrystal to bolster its Molecular Probes business, which focuses on labelling and detection technologies.

Meanwhile, the company has also just announced an agreement with Georgia Tech Research Corp to exclusively license a novel "nanocluster" technology, adding another technology platform to the business

Invitrogen said the deals would allow it to 'create new innovative products that enable life science researchers to better visualize and understand cellular processes, molecular interactions, and other factors essential to diagnosing and treating disease'. Terms of the acquisitions and license were not disclosed.

"Invitrogen's Molecular Probes business is the market leader in organic chemistry-based labelling and detection technologies," said Augie Sick, the unit's general manager. "These acquisitions, when combined with the license from Georgia Tech, provide Invitrogen with a significant intellectual property position and robust platform for product development based on advanced inorganic materials science for molecular detection."​

But aside from new research areas, the acquisitions bring in commercial products, including Quantum Dot's Qdots reagents, that should make an immediate controibution to the division's revenues.

"Molecular labeling and detection technologies are a cornerstone of Invitrogen's business and represent one of the fastest growing segments in life sciences. The ability to illuminate biological processes taking place, such as whether a defect in the function of a heart cell is causing a patient's heart disease, is becoming a preferred method for molecular research and diagnostic applications,"​ explained Invitrogen CEO Gregory Lucier.

Quantum Dot's Qdot semi-conductor nanocrystals emit bright light in a range of sharp colours. The properties of these particles include excellent photostability and narrow emission spectra and brightness, making them well suited for a wide range of applications within life sciences and beyond. For example, Qdots enable cell biologists to monitor the division of living cells through more than eight generations, in real time, over a period of up to a week.

Meanwhile, BioPixels provides novel coatings and metal alloys for semi-conductor nanocrystals. These specially coated, fluorescent nanocrystals have been applied to multicolour labelling, sorting and imaging of cells, lateral flow immunoassays, and fluorescent inks and represent a promising technology for the development of automated assays of complex biological samples.

Invitroge said the combination of BioPixels and Quantum Dot's technologies will allow the creation of smaller, brighter, lower toxicity particles that do not blink.

Finally, the agreement with Georgia Tech Research provides an exclusive license to new metal nanocluster technology. These noble metal nanoclusters, developed by Robert Dickson and Jie Zhang at Georgia Institute of Technology, are extremely small and extremely bright fluorescent particles, comprising only a few gold or silver atoms, exhibiting unique physical and optical properties that make them particularly well suited for in vivo​ as well as in vitro​ applications.

The advantage of these nanoclusters is that they are exceptionally photostable and offer up to ten times the fluorescence of semi-conductor nanocrystals, permitting true single molecule detection, said Invitrogen.

Biosource International acquisition closes​

Separately, Invitrogen also announced that it has completed its acquisition of Biosource International, adding to the firm's growing collection of protein and primary antibody products gained through its acquisitions of Zymed Laboratories and Caltag Laboratories earlier this year.

Additionally, Biosource bolsters Invitrogen's offerings in both kinase and cytokine assay technologies for research applications and provides the company an opportunity to enter new markets in immunology, oncology and neurodegenerative disease.