Prior to the 20th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology
and Infectious Diseases on April 10-13, 2010 in Vienna, Bruker
Daltonics and KIESTRA Lab Automation announce an expanded partnership covering
co-marketing and cross-selling of their respective technologies for microbiology
routine laboratories, as well as a joint research and development program for
interfacing their technologies.
Bruker's MALDI Biotyper with KIESTRA's MalditofA lab automation system
In recent years, Bruker and KIESTRA Lab Automation have worked with a number
of customers applying both technologies in their laboratories. Together with
the Academical Medical Center (Amsterdam), the Jeroen Bosch Hospital (Den Bosch),
Leiden University Medical Center (Leiden) and Streeklab Haarlem (Haarlem), both
companies applied for the prestigious European Research Initiative EUREKA. Typically,
EUREKA R&D is lead by industry and is focused on significant new customer
requirements. In March 2010, the participating project partners ranked at third
position of the EUREKA tender for their joint 24/7 Bacteriology Identification
& Sensitivity System (BISS) project. In addition to integration of both
technologies, a goal of the BISS project is to enable unattended 24/7 operation
for bacterial identification.
Mr. Jetze Botma, Chief Executive Officer at KIESTRA Lab Automation, stated:
"It is remarkable to see how relatively new players in the microbiology
market have changed the competitive landscape in the last couple of years. The
trends of consolidation of laboratories and of centralizing microbiology laboratory
services will further increase the demand for professional automation solutions.
In addition, an early identification by the MALDI Biotyper in many cases can
already initiate a germ-specific therapy, which leads to a significant increase
in laboratory and hospital efficacy. The effective combination of both technologies
will help to ease the burden on the healthcare system."
Dr. Wolfgang Pusch, Vice President for Clinical Research Solutions & IVD
at Bruker Daltonics, added: "This strategic partnership with KIESTRA Lab
Automation is an excellent match for Bruker. We are two leading suppliers offering
innovative technologies for the microbiology market, in laboratory automation
and in molecular microbial ID. Each of our technologies alone has been quite
successful already, and in combination they could change the way microbiology
is performed in many routine labs. KIESTRA´s technology brings the same
level of automation into the microbiology lab that was introduced in clinical
chemistry 15 years ago. Moreover, the MALDI Biotyper reduces the identification
turnaround time for patient samples significantly. Both technologies integrated
together will help microbiology laboratories to perform their important tasks
faster and better, despite a predicted shortage in experienced laboratory staff."