Bio-Techne said today that it has completed the acquisition of Zephyrus Biosciences for an undisclosed price.
The deal is intended to strengthen the buyer’s protein analysis operations, with Bio-Techne saying it will integrate Zephyrus into its Protein Platforms Division.
Zephyrus provides research tools for single cell protein analysis. The company’s first product, the Z1™ System, is designed to enable western blotting on individual cells for the first time.
“This deal provides an excellent path forward for commercialization of the single cell Western Blot technology,” Zephyrus co-founder and CEO Kelly Gardner, Ph.D., said in a statement. “The market reach of Bio-Techne will enable Zephyrus to rapidly reach the broad market of researchers who need to study proteins at the single cell level.”
Dr. Gardner and other Zephyrus executives will remain following the closing of the acquisition, Bio-Techne said.
Added Bio-Techne President and CEO Charles R. Kummeth: “This new technology brings this technique to the single cell level, allowing us to address both homogeneous sample populations with our Simple Western™ platforms and now heterogeneous populations at the single cell level with Zephyrus and the Z1 System.”
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Bio-Techne is a provider of tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. The company generated approximately $452 million in net sales in the fiscal year ending June 2015 and employs approximately 1500 people worldwide.
Zephyrus was spun out from the laboratory of Amy E. Herr, Ph.D., at University of California, Berkeley, in 2013. The company maintains affiliations with the UC institute QB3; StartX, a nonprofit formed to accelerate the development of Stanford's top entrepreneurs; the California Life Sciences Institute; and UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck accelerator.
