Formerly |
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Company type | Public |
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Founded | 1999 |
Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Michael Egholm (president & CEO) |
Revenue | ![]() |
Number of employees | 615 (December 2021) [2] |
Website | standardbio |
Standard BioTools Inc., previously known as Fluidigm Corp., offers analytical mass cytometry systems for flow cytometry and tissue imaging, along with associated assays and reagents, as well as an automated genomic analysis instrument and a variety of microfluidic arrays, or integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs), [3] and consumables with fully kitted reagents. Custom assays and services are available with all systems and applications.
Standard BioTools sells products to academic research institutions; translational research and medical centers; cancer centers; clinical research laboratories; biopharmaceutical, biotechnology and plant and animal research companies; and contract research organizations.
Standard BioTools is a public company traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange, previously under the ticker symbol FLDM, [4] currently under LAB.
Its genomic analysis products create microfluidic devices or IFCs. [5] [6] Genomics applications using IFCs processed on the Biomark™ X9 System for High-Throughput Genomics include gene expression and genotyping by PCR and NGS library preparation for pathogen detection, agrigenomics, sample identification and pharmacogenomics.
Its proteomic analysis products are based on technology developed by DVS Sciences, acquired by Fluidigm® in 2014. [6] DVS is best known for its multiparameter single-cell protein analysis systems, [7] which analyze antibody/metal complexes using atomic mass spectrometry. The technology enables precise, high-parameter single-cell protein analysis for applications in life sciences research.
The company has remained a pioneer in integrated microfluidic technology, with continued iterations of IFCs for a growing variety of applications.[ citation needed ] It is also the only company developing mass cytometry technologies for both flow cytometry and imaging applications.[ citation needed ]
The company was founded in 1999 as Mycometrix by Stephen Quake and Gajus Worthington. [8] The company was formed to commercialize technology developed by Quake at the California Institute of Technology referred to as microfluidic large-scale integration and branded IFCs[1]. Richard DeLateur, a 20-year veteran of Intel®, came on as chief financial officer in 2006. [9] Worthington was the company’s chief executive officer from its inception in 1999 to 2016. Quake has remained a member of the company’s scientific advisory board.
The company’s founders created integrated circuits that carried fluids rather than electrons. In 2009, the company was described as “the world’s leading manufacturer of microfluidic devices [5] .” The company’s original microfluidics products were aimed for use in applications such as protein crystallization, genotyping, DNA analysis and PCR.
The company completed a successful initial public offering (IPO) in February 2011, raising about $75 million. [4] This followed a failed, ill-timed IPO in 2008. [10] As of the 2011 IPO, Fluidigm had not yet become profitable. Following a $250 million investment from Casdin Capital, LLC and Viking Global Investors LP in April 2022, Fluidigm changed its name to Standard BioTools. [11] This change in name emphasized their mission to create a diversified, scalable innovation-focused life science tools company serving the pharma research markets. [12]
The company acquired NASDAQ-listed SomaLogic in January 2024 in an all-stock deal. [13]
At the end of 2023, Standard BioTools had a headcount of 500 personnel.
In addition to its headquarters and laboratory facility in South San Francisco, California, which it expanded in 2014, the company established the first biochip manufacturing facility in Singapore in 2005.
In 2022, Standard BioTools expanded their offices and manufacturing and research and development facility in Markham, Ontario.[ citation needed ]
Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field of science that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, especially when the data sets are large and complex. Bioinformatics uses biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, computer programming, information engineering, mathematics and statistics to analyze and interpret biological data. The subsequent process of analyzing and interpreting data is referred to as computational biology.
Microfluidics refers to a system that manipulates a small amount of fluids using small channels with sizes ten to hundreds micrometres. It is a multidisciplinary field that involves molecular analysis, molecular biology, and microelectronics. It has practical applications in the design of systems that process low volumes of fluids to achieve multiplexing, automation, and high-throughput screening. Microfluidics emerged in the beginning of the 1980s and is used in the development of inkjet printheads, DNA chips, lab-on-a-chip technology, micro-propulsion, and micro-thermal technologies.
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to make millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample rapidly, allowing scientists to amplify a very small sample of DNA sufficiently to enable detailed study. PCR was invented in 1983 by American biochemist Kary Mullis at Cetus Corporation. Mullis and biochemist Michael Smith, who had developed other essential ways of manipulating DNA, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993.
Flow cytometry (FC) is a technique used to detect and measure the physical and chemical characteristics of a population of cells or particles.
A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a device that integrates one or several laboratory functions on a single integrated circuit of only millimeters to a few square centimeters to achieve automation and high-throughput screening. LOCs can handle extremely small fluid volumes down to less than pico-liters. Lab-on-a-chip devices are a subset of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and sometimes called "micro total analysis systems" (μTAS). LOCs may use microfluidics, the physics, manipulation and study of minute amounts of fluids. However, strictly regarded "lab-on-a-chip" indicates generally the scaling of single or multiple lab processes down to chip-format, whereas "μTAS" is dedicated to the integration of the total sequence of lab processes to perform chemical analysis.
Invitrogen is one of several brands under the Thermo Fisher Scientific corporation. The product line includes various subbrands of biotechnology products, such as machines and consumables for polymerase chain reaction, reverse transcription, cloning, culturing, stem cell production, cell therapy, regenerative medicine, immunotherapy, transfection, DNA/RNA purification, diagnostic tests, antibodies, and immunoassays.
Sigma-Aldrich is an American chemical, life science, and biotechnology company owned by the multinational chemical conglomerate Merck Group.
The Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) is dedicated to advancing core and research biotechnology laboratories through research, communication, and education. ABRF members include over 2000 scientists representing 340 different core laboratories in 41 countries, including those in industry, government, academic and research institutions.
LGC Biosearch Technologies is a biotechnology company headquartered in Hoddesdon, UK. It is a subsidiary of LGC Ltd specialising in nucleic acid production, PCR systems, and other molecular biology lab kits and services.
Bio-MEMS is an abbreviation for biomedical microelectromechanical systems. Bio-MEMS have considerable overlap, and is sometimes considered synonymous, with lab-on-a-chip (LOC) and micro total analysis systems (μTAS). Bio-MEMS is typically more focused on mechanical parts and microfabrication technologies made suitable for biological applications. On the other hand, lab-on-a-chip is concerned with miniaturization and integration of laboratory processes and experiments into single chips. In this definition, lab-on-a-chip devices do not strictly have biological applications, although most do or are amenable to be adapted for biological purposes. Similarly, micro total analysis systems may not have biological applications in mind, and are usually dedicated to chemical analysis. A broad definition for bio-MEMS can be used to refer to the science and technology of operating at the microscale for biological and biomedical applications, which may or may not include any electronic or mechanical functions. The interdisciplinary nature of bio-MEMS combines material sciences, clinical sciences, medicine, surgery, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, optical engineering, chemical engineering, and biomedical engineering. Some of its major applications include genomics, proteomics, molecular diagnostics, point-of-care diagnostics, tissue engineering, single cell analysis and implantable microdevices.
Cytometry by time of flight, or CyTOF, is an application of mass cytometry used to quantify labeled targets on the surface and interior of single cells. CyTOF allows the quantification of multiple cellular components simultaneously using an ICP-MS detector.
Integromics was a global bioinformatics company headquartered in Granada, Spain and Madrid. The company had subsidiaries in the United States and United Kingdom, and distributors in 10 countries. Integromics specialised in bioinformatics software for data management and data analysis in genomics and proteomics. The company provided a line of products that serve gene expression, sequencing, and proteomics markets. Customers include genomic research centers, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, clinical research organizations, and biotechnology companies.
Stephen Ronald Quake is an American physicist, inventor, and entrepreneur.
In the field of cellular biology, single-cell analysis and subcellular analysis is the study of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and cell–cell interactions at the single cell level. The concept of single-cell analysis originated in the 1970s. Before the discovery of heterogeneity, single-cell analysis mainly referred to the analysis or manipulation of an individual cell in a bulk population of cells at a particular condition using optical or electronic microscope. To date, due to the heterogeneity seen in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell populations, analyzing a single cell makes it possible to discover mechanisms not seen when studying a bulk population of cells. Technologies such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) allow the precise isolation of selected single cells from complex samples, while high throughput single cell partitioning technologies, enable the simultaneous molecular analysis of hundreds or thousands of single unsorted cells; this is particularly useful for the analysis of transcriptome variation in genotypically identical cells, allowing the definition of otherwise undetectable cell subtypes. The development of new technologies is increasing our ability to analyze the genome and transcriptome of single cells, as well as to quantify their proteome and metabolome. Mass spectrometry techniques have become important analytical tools for proteomic and metabolomic analysis of single cells. Recent advances have enabled quantifying thousands of protein across hundreds of single cells, and thus make possible new types of analysis. In situ sequencing and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) do not require that cells be isolated and are increasingly being used for analysis of tissues.
Mass cytometry is a mass spectrometry technique based on inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and time of flight mass spectrometry used for the determination of the properties of cells (cytometry). In this approach, antibodies are conjugated with isotopically pure elements, and these antibodies are used to label cellular proteins. Cells are nebulized and sent through an argon plasma, which ionizes the metal-conjugated antibodies. The metal signals are then analyzed by a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The approach overcomes limitations of spectral overlap in flow cytometry by utilizing discrete isotopes as a reporter system instead of traditional fluorophores which have broad emission spectra.
Minimum information standards are sets of guidelines and formats for reporting data derived by specific high-throughput methods. Their purpose is to ensure the data generated by these methods can be easily verified, analysed and interpreted by the wider scientific community. Ultimately, they facilitate the transfer of data from journal articles into databases in a form that enables data to be mined across multiple data sets. Minimal information standards are available for a vast variety of experiment types including microarray (MIAME), RNAseq (MINSEQE), metabolomics (MSI) and proteomics (MIAPE).
Dmitry Bandura is a Soviet-born Canadian scientist, notable for being one of the co-inventors of the Mass cytometry technology. Bandura co-founded DVS Sciences in 2004 along with Drs Vladimir Baranov, Scott D. Tanner, and Olga Ornatsky.
Vladimir Baranov is a Soviet born Canadian scientist and one of the original co-inventors of Mass cytometry technology...
Scott Tanner is a Canadian scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. His areas of expertise include mass spectroscopy, especially inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and mass cytometry.
Olga Ornatsky is a Soviet born, Canadian scientist. Ornatsky co-founded DVS Sciences in 2004 along with Dmitry Bandura, Vladimir Baranov and Scott D. Tanner.