From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Caliper Life Sciences (NASDAQ:CALP) is a life sciences
company based in Hopkinton, MA with direct sales, service
and application-support operations in countries around the globe.
Founded in 1995 Caliper develops innovative and enabling products
and services to the life sciences research community, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and government
and other not-for profit research institutions.
Caliper’s integrated systems, consisting of instruments,
software and reagents, laboratory automation tools and
drug discovery
assay services enable researchers to better understand the basis
for disease and more effectively discover safe and effective drugs.
Caliper’s product portfolio includes, microfluidics, lab automation &
liquid handling, optical imaging technologies, and drug discovery
& drug
development outsourcing solutions.
Microfluidic Platform
Caliper is a pioneer in microfluidic lab-on-a-chip
technology which represents a significant advancement in laboratory
experimentation, bringing the benefits of miniaturization,
integration and automation to numerous research-based industries.
Caliper’s proprietary microfluidic sipper chips are a
high-throughput complement to the planar chips which Caliper
manufactures for the Agilent Bioanalyzer 2100. The microfluidic
technology forms the basis of Caliper’s LabChip EZ reader systems
used for drug screening and profiling and the LabChip GX series for
molecular biology DNA, RNA and protein
analysis.
Optical
Imaging
Through its acquisition of Xenogen Corporation in 2006, Caliper
is now a developer of in
vivo biophotonic imaging technology, which allows for
real-time, non-invasive exploration of genes, proteins, pathogens,
and tumor cells in living animals[1].
Caliper offers a complement of patented biophotonic and fluorescent
imaging technologies, as well as genetically modified animal
programs. Caliper’s imaging product lines include a suite of IVIS
imaging systems - many measuring both bioluminescence and
fluorescence, in vivo imaging reagents, specialized light producing
animal models, and genetic modification programs for pharmaceutical
and biotechnology research and development. In a recent Japanese
study, the IVIS imaging system was used to evaluate the binding
affinity and RNA interference (RNAi) of LMWC/siRNA complexes.[2]
Lab Automation & Liquid
Handling
Caliper has held a long standing position in laboratory
automation starting with the introduction of the world’s first lab
robotic system, the Zymark Zymate. To date, Caliper has a number of
lab automation and liquid handling systems for the life sciences
industry. In January 2009, the Zephyr Genomics Workstation was
introduced which promises to deliver a benchtop solution for
automating routine but critical processes for molecular
biology such as nucleic acid
purification, reaction setup and normalization.
In addition to automating molecular biology, Caliper has many
other robotic systems including the Zephyr SPE
and RapidTrace SPE workstations to automate solid
phase extraction, TurboVap family of concentration evaporators, and several liquid handling
and plate management systems including the Sciclone ALH 3000 liquid
handler and Twister II systems to automate drug discovery and
development.
Caliper also custom designs integrated vendor-neutral
instruments and software such as the Twister II - LightCycler
(Roche) integrated system which fully automates real-time PCR.
Discovery and
Development Outsourcing Solutions
Caliper’s Discovery Alliances & Services division (CDAS) was
created from the acquisitions of NovaScreen, a provider of in vitro discovery services,
and Xenogen Biosciences, a provider of in vivo customized target
and compound evaluation programs. CDAS develops, utilizes, and
provides a comprehensive array of services and innovative animal
models to improve the productivity, accelerate the pace, and reduce
the cost of the drug discovery process. The in vitro service arm of
CDAS includes a comprehensive array of in vitro drug discovery and
development solutions including more than 1000 screening assays
that help define the mode of action, side effect profiles,
selectivity, and other relevant activities of drug candidates. In
vivo capabilities include: transgenic production, gene targeting,
comprehensive and therapeutic area-focused phenotyping,
non-invasive in vivo optical imaging, and in vivo compound
profiling for safety assessment and drug repositioning.
History
Caliper Life Sciences was founded in 1995 as Caliper
Technologies with a strong focus on microfluidics technology. In
2003, Caliper acquired Zymark a leader in laboratory automation and
robotics and Caliper Life Sciences was born. In October 2005,
Caliper acquired NovaScreen Biosciences Corporation a privately
held CRO offering pre-clinical drug discovery and development
services. NovaScreen’s services included in vitro compound
profiling for safety assessment, drug discovery screening services
for targets such as GPCRs, Kinases, Ion Channels, Transporters,
Nuclear Receptors and customized assay development services. In
August 2006, Caliper acquired Xenogen Corporation, a developer of
in vivo optical imaging systems (IVIS systems) and its division,
Xenogen Biosciences a CRO offering in vivo transgenic animal
production, phenotyping, gene targeting and in vivo optical imaging
services.
At the end of October 2008, SOTAX—a tester and software
developer of medical devices—acquired Caliper's Pharmaceutical
Development & Quality Analysis (PDQ) Division for $15.8
Million.[3][4] Shortly
thereafter on November 10, 2008, Caliper's AutoTrace(r) line of
product was acquired by Dionex.[5]
Intellectual Property
Caliper's portfolio of microfluidics-related patents has been
ranked as high as #2 in technological strength in the
Biotech/Pharma sector of the MIT Technology Review Patent
Scorecard. Caliper actively out-licenses this portfolio as part of
its Caliper Driven program to broaden and accelerate the
availability of new technologies and products for life science and
diagnostics applications. Licensing Caliper's microfluidic
intellectual property benefits existing and potential partners by
enhancing the strength of their product and service offerings
through the incorporation of Caliper’s technology. Caliper also
provides commercial and academic customers with proprietary methods
via its Optical Imaging Patent Suite. The notification of allowance
of Caliper’s patent claims for conjugate fluorescence imaging
methods from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has added yet
another valuable component to Caliper's widespread intellectual
property estate.
Products
In
Vitro & In Vivo Outsourcing Services and Programs
Reagents
Acquisition
history
- 2003 - Zymark
- 2005 - NovaScreen Biosciences Corporation
- 2006 - Xenogen
References
External
links
Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA
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