Skip to content

Next-Gen Proteomics: High-Fidelity Enrichment, New Mass Spec, and Single-Molecule Fingerprinting

Mass spectrometry (MS) has long been a bedrock tool in proteomics investigations, with liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) especially key in analyzing the presence, identity, and quantity of proteins in a complex sample. But the expanding scope of proteomics research requires higher resolution than traditional MS techniques can offer, and as such, new sample preparation techniques that supplement and enhance MS workflows as well as novel MS approaches constitute a large swath of the next-gen proteomics market.

Several types of sample prep strategies have been designed to enhance enrichment and throughput. One broad class of methods employs particles to bind to and enrich for proteins in a sample that is subsequently analyzed by LC-MS or other MS techniques. Other approaches use subcellular fractionation to separate cellular components, while still others utilize depletion to remove abundant proteins from samples via immunoaffinity to boost detection of less abundant ones. High-fidelity enrichment tools are typically applied to drug target discovery and development, clinical biomarker discovery, and population-scale studies. Key companies include Evosep, which provides tips and columns designed to improve binding and sensitivity in chromatography, and Seer, which offers a magnetic nanoparticle panel and automated liquid handler compatible with most LC-MS instruments. This market, while nascent today, is expected to grow by an order of magnitude by 2027, driven by the technique’s ability to simplify workflow, increase throughput, and quicken turnaround time.

In addition to these turnkey sample prep solutions, novel MS methods that improve upon the sensitivity and resolution of conventional approaches have become available. If MS can be thought of as comprising three dimensions—retention time, peptide mass, and spectral peak intensity—an approach known as “4D proteomics” seeks to add a fourth. By using ion mobility separation to segregate ions in the gas phase before coupling with MS, users can interrogate a sample for proteins of lower abundance and decrease acquisition time. Bruker leads the market with its disruptive timsTOF instruments, and other major providers of ion mobility mass spec instruments include Agilent, Waters, and Thermo Fisher.

Another novel MS strategy, limited proteolysis mass spectrometry (LiP-MS), enables users to chart structural changes across the entire proteome. The LiP-MS technique is proprietary to Switzerland-based company Biognosys, which offers the approach as a contract research service. Biognosys made a splash at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR)’s 2022 annual meeting presenting drug discovery data derived from its proteomics platforms, and has several collaborations with pharmaceutical firms, most notably AstraZeneca.

While these novel MS methods provide high resolution and sensitivity, they still require specialized expertise and centralized equipment like traditional MS, and other drawbacks include their complexity and length of workflow. These approaches are typically applied to drug studies, clinical biomarker discovery, proteome atlas creation, and in situations where particular proteins have to be interrogated deeply. These technologies comprise a substantial market today that is expected to double over the next six years, driven by adoption by biopharma.

An emerging strategy known as single-molecule fingerprinting is also well suited to these applications. This class of approaches aims to identify the entire chemical character of individual protein molecules via an end-to-end platform. One player is Nautilus Biotechnology, which offers a single molecule platform that involves preparation of protein arrays, cycled application of fluorescent affinity probes, and analysis with machine learning software. Another is Erisyon, whose “fluorosequencing” workflow labels amino acids on peptides in a sample with fluorophores, images the sample before and after an Edman reaction is performed to remove the N-terminal amino acid, and infers sequence information based on changes in fluorescence intensity when compared to a reference database. Single molecule fingerprinting technologies are still emerging and do not yet have a market. TDA expects these approaches to show high growth driven by the technique’s ability to interrogate proteins deeply at potentially lower cost; however, it is unproven if its accuracy will equal that of MS.

The Need and Opportunity for Next-Generation Proteomics Tools

Since the term “proteome” first appeared in the scientific literature in 1995, interest in proteomics research and its use in applications like drug discovery, tumor characterization, and disease biomarker identification has exploded. With that growth has come a need for new approaches to catalog and study the proteome, as conventional techniques often fall short in accomplishing the specificity, sensitivity, and throughput required by ambitious emerging research efforts and applications.

Mass spectrometry and immunoassays like ELISA (enzyme-linked immunoassay) have traditionally been employed in proteomics research. While mass spec has long been the workhorse of protein biology, it requires specialized expertise and centralized equipment to complete lengthy analysis that can take weeks to months. Immunoassays have the benefit of being efficient and easily performed on the lab bench but lack multiplexing capabilities as they typically detect only a single molecular feature of a single protein.

Enter next-generation proteomics, a fast-growing group of technologies and approaches that circumvent these deficiencies and enable large-scale experiments with high sensitivity and the ability to capture the proteome’s dynamic range. These tools include novel mass spectrometry techniques, pre-mass spec high fidelity enrichment, spatial and single-cell proteomics, multiplex immunoassays, high plex affinity-based detection, and single molecule fingerprinting, each of which has its strengths, limitations, and ideal applications.

Novel mass spec comprises 4D proteomics, which incorporates ion mobility spectrometry as the “fourth dimension” of analysis to broaden coverage and boost acquisition speed, and limited proteolysis mass spec (LiP-MS), which incorporates protease digestion steps with data-independent acquisition protein quantification to build an unbiased list of proteome sites. Pre-mass spec high fidelity enrichment solutions, which use nanoparticles or depletion and fractionation to increase throughput of mass spec, are also available on the market today.

Other next-generation tools are well suited to fine-tuned study of the tumor microenvironment, like spatial proteomics, which uses antibody detection to locate cell types in tissue, and single-cell proteomics, which employs technologies like mass spec and mass cytometry at the single-cell rather than population level. These approaches are also often applied to drug discovery and development, as are affinity-based detection methods, which detect and measure several thousand proteins in one low-concentration sample with tagged antibodies.

Affinity-based techniques combine precision with high-speed turnaround, as do multiplex immunoassays, which use beads to simultaneously detect multiple proteins within small volumes at high sensitivity. Multiplex assays are well suited for clinical biomarker discovery, as is single molecule fingerprinting, a novel and developing approach that aims to identify the entire chemical character of individual protein molecules.

With major players including Bruker, Akoya Biosciences, and Olink, TDA estimates the market for these next-generation technologies represents about 8% of the overall proteomics market, with a value of around $0.6 billion. By 2027, we expect these novel approaches will grow to be over a quarter of the total proteomics market and will show compound annual growth rates of more than 30%. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be publishing additional articles exploring how these emerging technologies are poised to change proteomics research. Check back soon for more.

M&A Highlights August 29–November 14

Danaher to Separate Environmental and Applied Segments into New Company

Washington, DC, September 14, 2022: Washington, DC-based conglomerate Danaher will separate its Environmental & Applied Solutions segment into a new, independent, publicly traded company. The new company will contain Danaher’s Water Quality and Product Identification businesses, including Hach, a manufacturer of water quality testing instruments and reagents, and X-rite, a manufacturer of spectrophotometers and other color analysis products. After the separation, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2023, Danaher will be composed of its Life Sciences and Diagnostics segments, including companies like Beckman Coulter, Leica Biosystems, and Integrated DNA Technologies.

More about Neurescence: Neurescence’s microscopes are used to image and stimulate neurons in free-moving animals via fiber-bundles connected to devices mounted off the animals’ heads. Their flagship Chromatone system enables simultaneous calcium imaging and optical stimulation of neurons and includes customizable software for data visualization and analysis.

More about Evident: Previously known as Olympus Scientific Solutions, Evident manufactures life sciences and industrial microscopes and accessories as well as non-destructive testing solutions and x-ray fluorescence analyzers.

Bruker Acquires Neuroscience Microscope Providers Inscopix and Neurescence

Mountain View, CA, November 8, 2022: Bruker announced it acquired Inscopix, a manufacturer of miniaturized microscopes for neuroscience applications founded in 2011 and based in Mountain View, CA. With the acquisition, Inscopix joins Bruker’s portfolio of in-vivo brain imaging technologies, including multiphoton microscopes and preclinical MRI systems. Based in Billerica, MA, Bruker also provides mass spectrometry, gas and liquid chromatography, X-ray, and molecular spectroscopy technologies. Financial details were not disclosed.

More about Inscopix: Inscopix offers a 2-gram fluorescence microscope that can be mounted on the head of a freely moving mouse to monitor and study brain activity. In addition to this miniscope, the company’s products include platforms that allow for in vivo calcium imaging, visualization of multiple cell populations in distinct colors, and behavioral imaging as well as software for analysis of imaging data.

Billerica, MA, November 14, 2022: Bruker will also purchase 100% of the shares of Neurescence, a Toronto-based provider of miniature fiber-bundle fluorescence microscopes for neuroimaging in live animals, which was founded in 2015. Along with our recent addition of Inscopix, this acquisition bolsters Bruker’s position as the leading provider of freely behaving animal imaging and photostimulation, said Dr. Mark R. Munch, PhD, president, NANO Group, Bruker. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

More about Neurescence: Neurescence’s microscopes are used to image and stimulate neurons in free-moving animals via fiber-bundles connected to devices mounted off the animals’ heads. Their flagship Chromatone system enables simultaneous calcium imaging and optical stimulation of neurons and includes customizable software for data visualization and analysis.

More about the separation: The spin-off will be known as EAS until a new name is announced at a later date, and current Danaher executive vice president Jennifer L. Honeycutt will become president and CEO of the new company. While part of Danaher, the EAS segment generated revenue of approximately $4.7 billion in 2021.

Olympus Sells Microscope Unit Evident to Private Equity

Tokyo, August 29, 2022: Tokyo-based Olympus, a manufacturer of optical products, announced it will sell its microscope unit Evident to private equity firm Bain Capital for about $3.1 billion. After all shares of Evident are transferred to Bain on January 4, 2023, Olympus will operate as a global medical technology company focusing on its endoscopic and therapeutic solutions sections, the company said in a release announcing the deal.

More about Evident: Previously known as Olympus Scientific Solutions, Evident manufactures life sciences and industrial microscopes and accessories as well as non-destructive testing solutions and x-ray fluorescence analyzers.

Bruker Acquires Neuroscience Microscope Providers Inscopix and Neurescence

Mountain View, CA, November 8, 2022: Bruker announced it acquired Inscopix, a manufacturer of miniaturized microscopes for neuroscience applications founded in 2011 and based in Mountain View, CA. With the acquisition, Inscopix joins Bruker’s portfolio of in-vivo brain imaging technologies, including multiphoton microscopes and preclinical MRI systems. Based in Billerica, MA, Bruker also provides mass spectrometry, gas and liquid chromatography, X-ray, and molecular spectroscopy technologies. Financial details were not disclosed.

More about Inscopix: Inscopix offers a 2-gram fluorescence microscope that can be mounted on the head of a freely moving mouse to monitor and study brain activity. In addition to this miniscope, the company’s products include platforms that allow for in vivo calcium imaging, visualization of multiple cell populations in distinct colors, and behavioral imaging as well as software for analysis of imaging data.

Billerica, MA, November 14, 2022: Bruker will also purchase 100% of the shares of Neurescence, a Toronto-based provider of miniature fiber-bundle fluorescence microscopes for neuroimaging in live animals, which was founded in 2015. Along with our recent addition of Inscopix, this acquisition bolsters Bruker’s position as the leading provider of freely behaving animal imaging and photostimulation, said Dr. Mark R. Munch, PhD, president, NANO Group, Bruker. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

More about Neurescence: Neurescence’s microscopes are used to image and stimulate neurons in free-moving animals via fiber-bundles connected to devices mounted off the animals’ heads. Their flagship Chromatone system enables simultaneous calcium imaging and optical stimulation of neurons and includes customizable software for data visualization and analysis.

With Pipette Tip Washing Machines, Grenova Is on a Mission to Make Labs Greener

Walk into any life sciences lab, and you’re bound to see beakers or other containers filled with discarded pipette tips on each bench top. Between tips, tubes, and plates, research runs on single-use plastic. Recent plastics price spikes, manufacturing shortages, and supply-chain disruptions have hobbled labs, and COVID testing and treatment research have amplified need for these items. For example, a lab technician might use ten pipette tips to run one coronavirus test, between handling the sample, the test reagents, and setting up the PCR reaction.

All that plastic adds up—even pipette tips, which are typically each no bigger than a pen cap. In 2015, a trio of bioscience researchers surveyed their department at the University of Exeter to create an estimate of the total plastic waste generated by the world’s biological, medical, and agricultural research labs. They calculated that global lab research generates around 5.5 million tons of plastic waste a year–enough material to make over 100 million recycled-plastic park benches. Ali Safavi quickly noticed this deluge of plastic waste while working as a lab engineer. He saw labs constantly buying and using a huge volume of pipette tips, and with no reliable and cost-effective way to reuse or recycle them they just ended up in the landfill after one use. “I discovered that there is a hole in the laboratory consumables market,” Safavi says. “It’s a linear, not cyclical model. It’s not sustainable and it won’t last forever.”

In 2014 Safavi founded Grenova, a biotechnology company based in Richmond, Virginia that makes pipette tip washing machines. Their flagship device TipNovus sits on a bench top and works a bit like a kitchen dishwasher. Users load racks of used tips into the machine and input a customizable wash cycle; then, using Grenova’s proprietary cleaning solution, the machine washes, sanitizes, and dries up to 24 tip racks an hour. Effluent from each wash cycle can be sanitized under UV light in the machine then disposed down the drain, while any runoff containing radioactive material can be collected in a vessel attached to the washer and treated separately according to a lab or institution’s protocol.

Today, Grenova’s washers are used in labs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in others across government, academia, and industry. Tips sanitized by the machine have been tested and validated for use in techniques like mass spectrometry and ELISA, as well as in COVID-19 PCR testing, and the company says some customers report reusing them up to 25 times.

After their final use the company suggests users wash tips one last time to remove any lingering contaminants and to then recycle them. But labs can’t just toss washed tips right into the recycling bin; they must first check in with their institution’s waste management service and ask if they will take clean tips, confirming that they accept the specific plastic they are made of. This can be an arduous process and isn’t possible for all labs, so many will still have to trash tips after several washes and uses. Grenova says they hope to someday achieve the cyclical model envisioned by Safavi, in which users return their tips to designated recycling programs or back the manufacturer after their last wash.

In a ten-minute cleaning cycle, the Tipnovus generates about 109 grams of CO2, while conventional disposal of a 96-count rack of pipette tips generates an estimated 1.8 kilograms of CO2. According to Grenova, 1,201,932,255 pipette tips have been washed and reused thanks to their products, cutting a total of 4,581 metric tons of carbon emissions and 2,650,848 pounds of plastic waste from the environment.

Labs can reap other benefits from tip washing beyond “going green.” Grenova estimates its devices have saved its customers a total of $84,135,258. One CDC lab that studies carcinogens in tobacco estimates normally spending about $48,000 a year on tips. They cut that bill in half with Grenova’s washer, reporting savings of around $24,000 per year by washing and reusing tips used for solvent transfer in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry 10 times.

Looking beyond the pipette tip, Grenova recently released a microwell plate cleaner called Purus to enable the reuse of 96-well plates. It’s “one more step forward for those in the life sciences community who are serious about eliminating needless plastic waste while cutting lab costs and improving supply chain resilience,” Safavi says.

“Stormy Waters” Ahead Projected in IMF’s October World Economic Outlook

As global inflation remains the highest it’s been in several decades, about one-third of the global economy is expected to contract this year or next. In its October 2022 World Economic Outlook (WEO): Countering the Cost-of-Living Crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects global growth will remain at 3.2% in 2022, unchanged from July’s forecast, and will drop to 2.7% in 2023, a 0.2% downgrade from that projection. Global inflation is expected to rise to 8.8% in 2022 but decline to 6.5% in 2023 and to 4.1% in 2024.

The world’s three largest economies (the US, the EU, and China) will face slowdowns into next year. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has created an energy crisis in Europe and will reduce growth in the euro area to 3.1% in 2022 and to 0.5% in 2023. In China, growth is expected to stall to 3.2% in 2022 and to 4.4% in 2023 because of continued coronavirus lockdowns and the collapse of the country’s housing market, and in the US, the Federal Reserve’s successive interest rate hikes will drop growth to 1.6% in 2022 and to 1% in 2023.

These slowdowns have contributed to rising food and energy prices, and many households are experiencing what the WEO calls a cost-of-living crisis. In all, the IMF says the world economy is experiencing its weakest growth since 2001, save for the slowdowns experienced during the coronavirus pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis, and warns that global recession is on the horizon. “The worst is yet to come, and for many people 2023 will feel like a recession,” writes IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas in the report.

Against this global backdrop, experts predict that a US-specific recession is likely within the next year. Despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive efforts to raise interest rates five times since March 2022, US inflation persists, with the consumer price index rising 8.2% between September 2021 and September 2022. And while the country added 263,000 jobs in September, the US labor market shows signs of cooling off after adding 315,000 jobs in August and 528,000 in July.

Bloomberg Economics model predicts a 100% likelihood of a recession by October 2023, while a separate Bloomberg survey of economists returned the more measured prediction of 60% likelihood. And some experts think the US is already in hot economic water: 11% of economists surveyed in early October by the National Association for Business Economics believe the country is already experiencing a recession. There are signs a recession will be mild and short, as predicted by a majority of global CEOs polled by KPMG. US unemployment remains low at 3.5% in September 2022 and likely will not skyrocket in a coming downturn.

As in any recession, retail, hospitality, and other service industries will take the most immediate hit. While US retail sales in September were unchanged from those in August, customers have already started to cut back on large purchases like electronics, appliances, and cars. After the pandemic-induced housing boom, new builds and existing home sales are expected to decline into 2023 as buyers face higher mortgage rates, with some experts estimating housing prices to drop by 20%. As inflation remains high, institutions and laboratories will have less cash available to purchase new analytical instruments. However, analytical instruments and related chemicals may be needed to respond to the energy crisis spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Global coal demand has increased as natural gas prices have soared, and atomic spectroscopy instruments will be needed to test for environmental pollutants.

With the continued fallout from the war in Ukraine, stubbornly persistent inflation, and plunging global growth, the WEO predicts that recession is on the horizon. “The global economy is headed for stormy waters,” writes Gourinchas.

ACD/Labs Software Makes Analytical Data Seamless

Across an R&D lab, there’s a torrent of data and an ever-expanding number of workflows to keep in check. And volume is not the only challenge; each analysis may require different data formats or sometimes even multiple formats within a technique. Keeping track of such data manually can be time consuming and prone to errors, and standard spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets is not equipped to understand and display chemical formulas or structures, which are essential components of processes like drug development.

Enter scientific software company Advanced Chemistry Development, known as ACD/Labs. Now a leading provider of software solutions for R&D laboratories, the Toronto-based company was founded in 1994 by two chemists. Its first products included software for predicting the NMR spectra and partition coefficient (a measurement of a substance’s hydrophobicity) of a given chemical structure, and generating likely tautomers (a structure that creates the same compound with the movement of a hydrogen atom). Early offerings also included a catalog of names and structures for over 85,000 chemicals frequently used in therapeutics, as well as software called ACD/ChemSketch, which allows users to draw and visualize two- and three-dimensional models of chemical structures on their computers.

In the years since, ACD/Labs has developed over 25 products with a mission “to develop a platform that allows rich analytical data to be incorporated into Laboratory Informatics systems with little-to-no loss in fidelity,” Andrew Anderson, vice president of Business Development, told┬áAmerican Pharmaceutical Review in 2018. In line with that goal, ACD/Labs offers two informatics platforms: Spectrus, which lets users organize, view, and analyze LC/MS, NMR, GC/MS, HPLC, Raman, IR, and other analytical data gathered on instruments from multiple vendors across an organization, and Percepta, which allows users to train molecular models based on experimental data to discover and optimize novel compounds.

According to the company, 14 of the top 20 global pharma companies use Percepta, and its products are used by 4,600 other organizations worldwide. Bringing together analytical and process data in one piece of software allows researchers to focus on the science rather than juggle files, Joe DiMartino, solution area manager, wrote in European Pharmaceutical Review in 2021.

In addition to its software offerings, over the years, ACD/Labs has worked with the Chemical Abstracts Service to publish predicted molecular properties for 12 million chemical structures, collaborated with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) toxicity models for FDA regulatory and research applications, and integrated its products into analytical instruments from vendors including Agilent, PerkinElmer, and Thermo Fisher.

Outside the lab, the company developed an educational licensing program for students in high school and university chemistry classrooms, and created a free version of its popular ChemSketch software for academic groups and individual users. In June 2020, this version of the software hit 2 million downloads, with ACD/Labs reporting a 40% bump over the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic as teachers needed online learning solutions that brought the laboratory home for students. “Years ago, we viewed the release of ACD/ChemSketch Freeware as a downloadable resource for educational and personal use, and as our contribution to the field of chemistry,” said Daria Thorp, president and CEO, in a press release at the time. The surge in interest “underscores the critical importance of scientific software and online learning tools in academia today.”

PerkinElmer, Olympus Sell Off Parts of Business to Private Equity

In attempts to slim down and focus more closely on medical or life sciences offerings, both Olympus and PerkinElmer have recently sold off portions of their businesses to private equity firms. On August 29, Tokyo-based Olympus, a manufacturer of optical products, announced the sale of its microscope unit Evident to Bain Capital for $3.08 billion. The deal follows scientific products and services corporation PerkinElmer’s August 1 announcement it had entered an agreement with New Mountain Capital to divest its Applied, Food, and Enterprise Services businesses for up to $2.45 billion in cash.

Proceeds from the deals will allow both companies to pour resources into refined focuses: life sciences and diagnostics offerings for PerkinElmer, and medical technologies for Olympus. Selling to private equity will hopefully give the offloaded businesses the opportunity to continue growing, while from the private equity buyers’ perspectives, the stable and positive cash flow expected by the divested businesses make them attractive acquisitions.

PerkinElmer has been moving toward focusing on life sciences in recent years, acquiring both antibody and reagents powerhouse BioLegend and diagnostics company Oxford Immunotec in 2021. A source close to the recent sale told Reuters that other options were considered, including spinning off the units or selling to strategic buyers, but the carve out to New Mountain won out as it will both allow PerkinElmer to invest in its existing life sciences businesses and fund future acquisitions within that scope.

The deal completes PerkinElmer’s transformation into a pure-play Life Sciences and Diagnostics company that will adopt a new name and stock ticker at a later date, the company said in a press release. These remaining units are expected to make $3.3 billion in sales this year, around 60% from diagnostics and around 40% from life sciences, while the divested businesses, which include PerkinElmer’s portfolio of chromatography and mass spectrometry instruments, are expected to bring in $1.3 billion in 2022. Overall, the divestiture of the three PerkinElmer businesses improves the growth profile of the company, experts tell Reuters.

Olympus, too, has been reorganizing its portfolio in the last few years, and though its scientific businesses remain profitable, their growth has stalled. In mid-2020, the company sold off its longstanding camera business, and in 2021, got rid of subsidiaries focused on IT solutions and regenerative medicine development. In 2020, the company told Evaluate Vantage it was focusing on acquiring innovative therapeutic technologies and made good on the promise later that year when it purchased Verna Medical Technologies, an interventional pulmonology device firm.

The divestment of Evident could enable Olympus to continue making similar acquisitions. After selling Evident, Olympus will operate as a global medical technology company and specifically allocate resources to its endoscopic and therapeutic solutions sections, the company said in a release announcing the deal. The divested microscopy businesses contributed to less than 10% of the company’s revenues, Chemical & Engineering News reports, and have little customer overlap with its medical device business. As such, divesting not only allows Olympus to focus on the medical market but also simplify its operations.

M&A Highlights July 1–August 9

PerkinElmer to Divest Applied, Food, and Enterprise Service Businesses

Waltham, MA, August 1, 2022: PerkinElmer will divest its Applied, Food and Enterprise Services businesses to private equity firm New Mountain Capital for up to $2.45 billion. In the deal, New Mountain will acquire PerkinElmer’s OneSource laboratory services as well as a portfolio of atomic spectroscopy, molecular spectroscopy, and chromatography instruments, consumables and reagents that serve the biopharma, food, environmental and safety and applied end markets.

More about the sale: When the transaction closes, the divested businesses will retain the PerkinElmer name and brand while PerkinElmer’s Life Sciences and Diagnostics businesses will adopt a new name and stock ticker. These remaining businesses are expected to generate $3.3 billion of revenue in 2022.

Agilent Acquires Polymer Standards Service

Santa Clara, CA, August 2, 2022: Agilent Technologies has acquired Polymer Standards Service (PSS), which provides hardware and software solutions for polymer characterization. The acquisition of PSS, which is based in Mainz, Germany, will add key technology to Agilent’s gel permeation chromatography and size exclusion chromatography offerings, said Jacob Thaysen, senior vice president, Agilent. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

More about PSS: Privately held and founded in 1985, PSS has a US office in Amherst, MA, in addition to its German headquarters. Its products include columns, software, systems, and detectors for size exclusion chromatography, interaction polymer chromatography and 2-dimensional chromatography (2D). PSS also provides trainings and contract analysis and compliance services.

Bio-Rad to Acquire Curiosity Diagnostics, Maker of Rapid PCR Diagnostic System

Hercules, CA, August 3, 2022: Bio-Rad Laboratories will acquire Curiosity Diagnostics from Warsaw, Poland-based Scope Fluidics for $100 million in cash and up to $70 million in payment upon achievement of future milestones. Curiosity Diagnostics is developing a rapid PCR system that offers “a streamlined workflow and rapid turnaround times, and is expected to extend our reach beyond high-complexity labs into near-patient molecular diagnostics labs,” said Dara Wright, executive vice president and president, Clinical Diagnostics Group, Bio-Rad.

More about Curiosity Diagnostics: Curiosity’s PCR system, PCR|ONE, is a benchtop, automated PCR device for diagnostic detection of pathogens and genetic targets in 20 minutes. The company has developed diagnostic panels for SARS-CoV-2 and MRSA/MSSA, and the system is currently being distributed to partnering research centers for testing. 

Bio-Techne Acquires Single-Cell Sorting Provider Namocell

Minneapolis, MN, July 5, 2022: Bio-Techne announced completion of its acquisition of Namocell. Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, Namocell provides single-cell sorting for application in biotherapeutics and diagnostics. Bio-Techne expects the deal to close first quarter of its fiscal 2023. Financial details were not available. According to Chuck Kummeth, CEO and president, Bio-Techne, Bio-Techne hopes the acquisition helps the company meet the growing demand for fast cell sorting in research and next-generation therapeutics.

More about Namocell: Namocell’s sorters, including a two-laser system with up to 11 fluorescent detection channels and a single-laser system with 2 channels, use a proprietary technology that combines microfluidics, flow cytometry, and liquid dispensing technology, rather than relying on traditional fluorescence-activated cell sorting methods.

908 Devices Acquires TRACE Analytics
Boston, MA, August 9, 2022: 908 Devices, a maker of handheld and desktop MS devices, has completed acquisition of Braunschweig, Germany-based TRACE Analytics. TRACE develops both single-use and reusable on-line aseptic sampling systems and biosensors for monitoring and control in biotech applications. The acquisition “enables us to take a measurable step forward in our goal to build a connected and comprehensive bioanalytics platform”, said Dr. Kevin J. Knopp, PhD, CEO and cofounder, 908 Devices. The deal consists of initial cash payment of $15.3 million and up to $2 million upon achievement of certain milestones over the next 2 years.

More about TRACE Analytics: Founded in 2003, TRACE Analytics produces online biosensors for monitoring in cell cultivations and microbial fermentations, as well as associated accessories. By acquiring TRACE’s technology, 908 Devices expects to enable their handheld and desktop MS devices as online monitors.

Azenta Completes Acquisition of Barkey, Plans to Acquire B Medical Systems

Chelmsford, MA, Ju1y 1, 2022: Azenta announced completion of its €80 million ($84 million) acquisition of Barkey Holding, a provider of controlled rate thawing devices based in Leopoldshöhe, Germany, and its subsidiaries. Azenta, known as Brooks Automation before December 2021, provides cold-chain sample management solutions and genomic services. The acquisition of Barkey “will extend our extensive cold chain of condition portfolio of products and services, while also expanding our customer reach,” said Steve Schwartz, PhD, CEO and president, Azenta.

About Barkey: Barkey was founded in 1980 and produces dry temperature control products, including their plasmatherm automated thawing device which is FDA-approved for clinical use. In addition to its headquarters in Leopoldshöhe, Barkey established an office in Cambridge, MA, in 2021 and opened an office in Shanghai this year.

August 8, 2022: Azenta will acquire vaccine cold chain provider B Medical Systems and its subsidiaries for €410 million($417 million) with additional cash consideration of up to €50 million ($51 million) payable upon achievement of future performance milestones. B Medical, headquartered in Hosingen, Luxembourg, serves primarily emerging markets with medical refrigeration and real-time monitoring and blood management solutions. The deal is expected to be completed in October.

More about B Medical: B Medical’s portfolio includes vaccine transport systems. It has installed more than 500,000 units in about 150 countries, and its equipment has helped vaccinations reach more than 300 million children in developing countries, according to the company.

Neogen Acquires Thai Distributer of its Products

Lansing, MI, July 6, 2022: Neogen announced acquisition of Thai-Neo Biotech. Located in Bangkok, Thailand, Thai-Neo has been a distributor of Neogen’s food safety rapid tests and solutions for 20 years. “We see this as a tremendous opportunity to grow our aquaculture, genomics, and animal safety businesses, while also offering our food safety solutions to new customers in the area,” said Dr. Jason Lilly, PhD, vice president of International Business, Neogen. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

More about Neogen: This deal compliments Neogen’s previous acquisitions of its distributor partners in South America, Europe, and beyond. In December 2021, Neogen announced an agreement with 3M to combine the latterΓÇÖs Food Safety business with Neogen’s exisiting operations.

IMF’s Global Economic Outlook Remains “Gloomy” and Uncertain

As new risks spill into an economy already weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts global growth to continue to slow in 2022. In its July 2022 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update: Gloomy and More Uncertain, an update to its yearly WEO released in April, the IMF predicts growth to slow to 3.2% in 2022, revising its April forecast of 3.6% and down from 6.1% in 2021. After a shaky and slight recovery last year, risks identified in the April WEO, including the war in Ukraine, ballooning inflation, and economic slowdowns in China will continue to have adverse effects, the Update states.

It’s not all bad news; the economies of Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile have seen a more robust recovery than expected, contributing to an upward revision of 0.5 percentage points to projected growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. But globally, consumer prices have risen even faster than initially expected and inflation remains a chief concern. In the US and UK, inflation has reached its highest rate in more than 40 years, with the consumer price index rising by 9.1% in both the US in June and the UK in May when compared with a year earlier. Dismal consumer spending has caused the IMF to revise projected 2022 GDP for the US down 1.4 points to 2.3%.

*Changes in value compared with predictions from April 2022 WEO are in parentheses.

Globally, inflation this year is expected to reach 6.6% in advanced economies and 9.5% in emerging market and developing economies, a bump of 0.9 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively, from the fund’s April projections. To address rising inflation, which has outpaced wage growth in both advanced and emerging market and developing economies, central banks in many countries have raised interest rates even higher than expected in April’s WEO.

Since April 2022, China’s zero-COVID policy led to lockdowns as outbreaks and new variants arose, pushing the country’s economy into a slowdown and resulting in supply-chain disruptions for the rest of the world. Shanghai entered a strict lockdown in April for 2 months, halting activity in many of the city’s semiconductor, electronics, and chemical manufacturing factories and disrupting activity at the world’s busiest port. The WEO warns future COVID-19 outbreaks could create further logjams for cargo moving through China’s ports and stop production in factories based in locked-down districts.

Lastly, the war in Ukraine continues to have cascading effects due to dependence on oil, gas, and metals exports from Russia, and Ukraine’s status as the breadbasket of Europe. Russia normally accounts for 10% of the world’s oil production, and Russia and Ukraine are together responsible for nearly 30% of the world’s wheat. The crisis has driven an inflation in global food prices, particularly prices of cereal grains. Russian gas exports to Europe have fallen to 40% of last year’s level, increasing crude oil prices, albeit at a rate slightly lower than the April WEO due to offsets made by OPEC. Overall, the WEO expects oil prices to increase by 50.4% in 2022 (with nonfuel commodity prices increasing by 10.1%). In the event of an unprecedented complete cut-off of Russian energy exports, the WEO predicts further inflation and a steeper deceleration global growth to 2.6% in 2022 and 2% in 2023, nearing 50-year lows, with shocks felt most acutely in Europe.

Combined, these factors could affect many end markets that intersect with the analytical instrument industry. Supply chain backups and higher energy prices could affect transport and costs of materials and products. Raised interest rates might hamper companies’ and institutions’ purchasing power for instruments. And for consumers, high prices of essentials like food and energy could curb large purchases or spending in discretionary categories, and less consumer spending could lead to a decrease in product testing. In all, the IMF positions the current economic outlook as “extraordinarily uncertain” due to the many shifting risks outlined in the WEO Update, but across the board, the prognosis is “gloomy.”

Laboratories Aren’t Immune to the “Great Resignation”

The pandemic shook up nearly every facet of modern life, including employees’ views of what they value at work. In a trend dubbed the “Great Resignation” or the “Great Attrition,” about 47.4 million workers quit their jobs in 2021, and more than 4 million people have quit their jobs each month this year. At the end of June (the latest month with available data), 10.7 million jobs were open in the US, down 5.6% from 11.3 million in May but up 9.2% from 9.8 million in June of 2021, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And industries that rely on labs aren’t immune. The Bureau reported over 2 million healthcare and social services job openings and 790,000 manufacturing job openings at the end of June. As of July 22, job postings on the hiring platform Indeed.com are up nearly 68% for positions in scientific R&D, 78% for medical technicians, and 90.5% for positions in production and manufacturing compared with pre-pandemic levels in February 2020. Some large companies that profited during the pandemic expanded; for example, Johnson & Johnson grew 7.2% from 132,200 to 141,700 employees between 2019 and 2021.* Other companies have seen their ranks decrease Pfizer’s numbers dropped 10.5% from 88,300 to 79,000 employees in the same time frame.

“We are suffering, along with the rest of the country, from the ‘where-are-the-workers’ syndrome,” says Jan Hudson, partner and CEO of Surf Search, a recruiting firm in San Diego, CA, that specializes in health care, medical devices, and the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The pandemic is mostly to blame, Hudson says, and employees are now looking for remote work and other perks.

Before the pandemic, employers weren’t paying close enough attention to retention, says Chris Clancy, associate vice president and practice director in Life Sciences and Biotechnology at Boston, MA-based recruiting firm HireMinds. A report published in July by McKinsey & Company found that 54% of respondents working in healthcare or pharmaceuticals who quit their jobs between April 2020 and April 2022 did not return to that same industry, citing a lack of opportunities for career development or advancement and inadequate compensation as top reasons for quitting. Clancy says many employers are now desperate to fill spots at their lab benches.

For the candidates who stuck around the lab and are now looking for jobs, their wish lists are long. Ample time off and stock options are high on jobseekers must-have lists, Hudson says. But many prospective employees are looking for hybrid or fully remote work options above all, a tricky proposition for lab-based work. “You can’t culture cells from home,” Clancy says.

Because of the premium placed on remote work, “good lab hands are hard to find,” he says.

Even if a potential staffer is aware they’ll need to be physically at the bench, they often are looking for leadership to be in-person too, says Carla Yacoub, senior scientific recruiting associate at Boston-area firm Sci.bio Recruiting. “It may be a challenge for these companies to encourage their senior leadership to be on-site as much as they can,” she says.

Outsourcing wet lab work to CROs might play a growing role, says Aly Budny, senior marketing and scientific recruiting associate, also with Sci.bio. “Instead of executing experiments in a lab setting, scientists now design and troubleshoot experiments that are fully executed at a CRO, outside of their company’s lab,” she says, enabling them to work remotely.

Along with research associates and lab technicians, both Hudson and Clancy also see companies struggle to recruit bioinformaticians or other data scientists to their ranks. But while the pandemic has been hard on labs, Clancy points out that laboratories have proved now, more than ever, to be necessary. “These are the employees who were obviously essential in making the [COVID-19] vaccine and improving outcomes for antiviral pills,” he says. “The industry is still healthy and vital.”

Despite US employment numbers having returned to pre-pandemic levels and a 3.5% unemployment rate as of the July jobs report, labs continue to face staffing shortages.

*According to our estimates, only about 9% of the increase in employee numbers is attributable to acquisitions.