Thermal Cycler to Debut in Europe

According to a recent multiyear agreement with the developer, a rapid thermal cycler that incorporates homogeneous optical detection for DNA amplification and analysis will be distributed in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom by Eurogentec (Sart Tilman, Belgium). Commercial launch is expected during the first quarter of 2001.

Called the Smart Cycler, the system was developed by Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA). Through a PC-based interface, the Smart Cycler provides the operator with the ability to define and simultaneously carry out as many as 16 separate cycling protocols with the systems' independently programmable reaction sites. Cepheid applies proprietary microfluidic and microelectronic technologies to the development of miniaturized systems that can perform all the steps required to analyze complex biologic samples--including sample preparation, amplification, and detection--with a single platform.

"Eurogentec's extensive line of nucleic acid reagents together with the Smart Cycler system will provide an integrated solution to genomic researchers' needs,” said Tom Gutshall, chairman and CEO of Cepheid.



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