01
May 2018

LGC acquires BioAutomation Corporation

LGC has today announced a further strengthening of its nucleic acid chemistry (NAC) offering with the acquisition of BioAutomation Corporation (BioAutomation), manufacturer of the renowned MerMade oligo synthesis instruments.

This investment follows LGC’s acquisitions of Biosearch, Prime Synthesis and LINK Technologies, and will drive further growth in the oligonucleotide reagent and synthesised oligonucleotides markets.

Brian Kim, President and Managing Director, Genomics division, LGC, said, “We are delighted to have added BioAutomation to our growing NAC business unit. The acquisition will allow us to provide our oligonucleotide reagent customers a complete and fully-supported oligo synthesis solution, as well as helping to drive advancements in automation for all aspects of our oligo manufacturing processes.

Kim continued “BioAutomation’s MerMade brand instruments are the premium synthesisers on the market with a significant installed base. Like all of our NAC businesses, BioAutomation is certified to ISO 9001:2015, and is well known in the industry for its excellent customer service and technical support. BioAutomation and LGC’s existing portfolio in this market are highly complementary, and we are looking forward to utilising BioAutomation’s considerable expertise in our mission of using “Science for a safer world”.”

Jeff Scheumack, Founder and President, BioAutomation, added, “We are excited to be joining LGC’s NAC business.  With our long-standing collaborations with Biosearch, Prime Synthesis and LINK Technologies, we see it as a logical progression for BioAutomation to join as the newest member of the LGC family.  Adding our industry-leading MerMade synthesis platform to LGC’s impressive oligo reagent offering helps us better serve both of our customer bases going forward.”

BioAutomation was formed in 1999 and employs 17 full-time employees at its facility in Irving, Texas. It designs, develops, manufactures and supplies synthesisers for pharmaceutical, biotech, scientific research and development and academic applications globally. The synthesisers are sold under the MerMade brand, tailored to the customers’ applications and in a variety of configurations.

The MerMade range comprises 8 instruments capable of synthesising between 4 and 192 oligos simultaneously at scale ranges from 50 nmol (tens of micrograms of final product) to 200 umol (hundreds of milligrams of final product).

In addition, BioAutomation distributes consumables such as phosphoramidites, solvents, columns and trap packs that are used on synthesisers during the synthesis process.