Applied Biosystems is one of various brands under the Life Technologies brand of Thermo Fisher Scientific corporation. The brand is focused on integrated systems for genetic analysis, which include computerized machines and the consumables used within them (such as reagents).
In 2008, a merger between Applied Biosystems and Invitrogen was finalized, creating Life Technologies. The latter was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2014. Prior to 2008, the Applied Biosystems brand was owned by various entities in a corporate group parented by PerkinElmer. The roots of Applied Biosystems trace back to GeneCo (Genetic Systems Company), a pioneer biotechnology company founded in 1981 in Foster City, California.Applied Biosystems Timeline , AppliedBiosystems.com Through the 1980s and early 1990s, Applied Biosystems, Inc. operated independently and manufactured biochemicals and automated genetic engineering and diagnostic research instruments, including the principal brand of DNA sequencing machine used by the Human Genome Project consortium centers. Applied Biosystems' close ties to the consortium project led to the idea for the founding of Celera Genomics in 1998 as one of several independent competitors to the consortium.READING THE BOOK OF LIFE, Double Landmarks for Watson: Helix and Genome, The New York Times on the Web, By NICHOLAS WADE, June 27, 2000
In 1993 Applied Biosystems, Inc., was delisted from the NASDAQ when it was acquired by the old company known then as Perkin-Elmer. As the PE Applied Biosystems Division under that parent in 1998, it became consolidated with other acquisitions as the primary PE Biosystems Division. In 1999 its parent company reorganized and changed its name to PE Corporation, and the PE Biosystems Group (formerly again became publicly traded, as a tracking stock of its parent, along with its sister tracking stock company, Celera Genomics. In 2000 the parent became Applera Corporation. The Applied Biosystems name also returned that year, in the name change of the tracking stock from PE Biosystems Group to Applera Corporation-Applied Biosystems Group, an S&P 500 company, which remains as a publicly traded operating group within Applera Corp., along with its sibling operating group, Applera Corporation-Celera Group. Applera derives its name from the combination of its two component groups' names, Appl(iedCel)era In November 2008, a merger between Applied Biosystems and Invitrogen was finalized "creating a global leader in biotechnology reagents and systems". The new company was called Life Technologies.
History
+Company HistoryYearCompany name1981Genetic Systems Company (GeneCo)1982Applied Biosystems, Inc. (ABI)1993Applied Biosystems, Perkin-Elmer1996PE Applied Biosystems1998PE Biosystems2000Applied Biosystems Group, Applera Corp2002Applied Biosystems2008Life Technologies2014Thermo Fisher Scientific In 1981, the company was founded by two scientist/engineers from Hewlett Packard, Sam Eletr and André Marion based on technology developed by Leroy Hood and Marvin H. Caruthers.
In 1982, Applied Biosystems released its first commercial instrument, the Model 470A Protein Sequencer. The machine enabled scientists to determine the order of amino acids within a purified protein, which in turn correlated with the protein's function. With 40 employees, the company, reported first-time revenue of US$402,000.
In 1983, the company was led by its president and Chairman of the Board, Sam Eletr and Chief Operating Officer Andre Marion, the company doubled its number of employees to 80, and its stock went public on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol ABIO, with revenues of US$5.9 million. A new product was a fluorescent molecular tag for immunodiagnostic assays.
The company released its second commercial instrument, the Model 380A DNA Synthesizer, which made oligonucleotides, short DNA strands, for polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA sequencing, and gene identification. The two sequencer and synthesizer products allowed molecular biologists to clone genes by building oligonucleotides with the desired protein's DNA sequence.
Automated DNA sequencing began at the California Institute of Technology, using fluorescent dyes, with Rights to the technology granted to Applied Biosystems. At CIT, Dr. Leroy Hood and Dr. Lloyd Smith, together pioneered those first DNA sequencing machines.
In 1984, Applied Biosystems sales revenue tripled to over US$18 million, with a second yearly profit, and with over 200 employees. Services included synthesizing custom DNA and protein fragments, and the sequencing of protein samples submitted from customers. The third major instrument made by Applied, the Model 430A Peptide Synthesizer, was introduced.
In 1985, Applied Biosystems sales revenue grew nearly 70% to over US$35 million, with a third yearly profit. Two new products included the Model 380B DNA Synthesizer and the 381A DNA Synthesizer. That year the company went international for the first time, when it established a wholly owned subsidiary in Great Britain to save shipping costs on chemical sales, which overall by then accounted for 17% of sales.
Also in 1985, Applied Biosystems acquired Brownlee Labs, a manufacturer of columns and pumps for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems, after its founder, Robert Brownlee was diagnosed with AIDS-related complex in 1984.New York Times, Dec. 12, 1984 "for 130,000 shares" Brownlee's technology brought the new on-line 120A PTH Amino Acid Analyzer.
However, Brownlee then began a new company, which was viewed by Applied as a competitor. In 1989 Applied and Brownlee settled in a lawsuit over the conflict.Brownlee v. Applied Biosystems, Inc., 1989-1 Trade Cas. (CCH) 68, (N.D. Cal. 1989) 8,14 As late as 1990, Brownlee publicly discussed what had been his contributions in the rocky relationship with Applied, before he died early the next year.The Scientist, 25 June, 1990
In 1986, Andre Marion became president and chief executive officer. Sales revenue increased by 45% to nearly US$52 million. The company introduced six new products, totalling eleven automated instruments. The release of the Model 370A DNA Sequencing System, using fluorescent tags, revolutionized gene discovery. The Model 340A Nucleic Acid Extractor became used in medical labs to isolate DNA from bacteria, blood, and tissue.
In 1987, Sam Eletr resigned for health reasons. Revenues increase by 63% to nearly US$85 million, with 788 employees, and another six new instruments. Applied Biosystems acquired the Kratos Division of Spectros International PLC.
By 1988, the product line had increased to over 25 different automated instruments, over 400 liquid chromatography columns and components, and about 320 chemicals, biochemicals, and consumables. Sales revenue grew to over US$132 million, with almost 1000 employees in eight countries. In that year for the first time, genetic science reached the milestone of being able to identify individuals by their DNA.
In 1989, sales revenue reached nearly $160 million. Applied Biosystems maintained 15 offices in 9 different countries, and introduced four new products. The company developed enzyme-based reagent kits made by Promega Corporation, and in the new field of bioinformatics, licensed with TRW Inc. Also, joint marketing began with Perkin-Elmer Corporation and Cetus Corporation (formerly of instruments and reagents for DNA replication, the fastest growing segment in biotechnology.
In 1990, instrument sales underwent a cyclical slowdown, as the economy entered the 1990–91 recession. For the first year, Applied revenues did not grow, and came in at less than $159 million, with 1,334 employees. New company developments included new instrumentation for robotics and detection of DNA fragments using the company's fluorescent labelling.
Also in 1990, the U.S. government approved financing to support the Human Genome Project. Dr. James D. Watson, who founded the consortium, forecast that the project could be completed in 15 years from its 1990 starting date, at a cost of cost US$3 billion. Over the next couple years, Japan began a project to sequence the rice genome, and other laboratories initiated programs to sequence the mouse, fruit fly, and yeast genomes.
In 1991, Applied sales revenue grew slightly, to almost $164 million, with consumables and service contracts up by 24% to account for 47% of total sales, and DNA sequencer and DNA synthesis instruments having record sales. Forty-five new consumable products and six new instruments were introduced.
In 1992, sales revenue grew by more than 11% to over $182 million, with Europe representing 25% of revenue, and Asia and the Pacific Rim accounting for 26%. The company formed a new subsidiary, Lynx Therapeutics, Inc., to focus on antisense DNA research in the area of therapeutics for chronic myelogenous leukemia, melanoma, colorectal cancer, and AIDS.
Perkin-Elmer
In February 1993 Applied Biosystems was acquired by Perkin-Elmer, and became the Applied Biosystems Division, as part of the Life Sciences markets segment of that company. Andre Marion, who had been Applied Biosystems's Chairman, president and CEO, became a Senior Vice President of Perkin-Elmer, and President of the Applied Biosystems Division. That year the company was the world's leading manufacturer of instruments and reagents for polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It marketed PCR reagents kits in alliance with Hoffman-La Roche Inc.
In 1994, Perkin-Elmer reported net revenues of over $1 billion, of which Life Sciences accounted for 42% of the business. The company has 5,954 employees. A brand-new highly competitive genomics industry had formed for the development of new pharmaceuticals, based on the work of the Human Genome Project. Companies such as Sequana Therapeutics in San Diego, Human Genome Sciences in Maryland, Myriad Genetics in Utah, INCYTE Pharmaceuticals (later Incyte Genomics) in California, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals relied on the Applied Biosystems Division, which made thermal cyclers and automated sequencers for these new genomics companies.
In 1995, upon Andre Marion retirement, Mike Hunkapiller became President of PE Applied Biosystems Division which sold its 30,000th thermal cycler. To meet Human Genome Project goals, Perkin-Elmer developed mapping kits with markers every 10 million bases along each chromosome. Also that year, DNA fingerprinting using PCR became accepted in court as reliable forensic evidence.
In 1996, Perkin-Elmer acquired Tropix, Inc., a chemiluminescence company, for its life sciences division.
PE Applied Biosystems
In September 1995, Tony L. White from Baxter International Inc. became president and chief executive officer of Perkin-Elmer. In 1996 the company was reorganized into two separate operating divisions, Analytical Instruments and PE Applied Biosystems. The PE Applied Biosystems division accounted for half of Perkin-Elmer's total revenue, with net revenues up by 26%.
In 1997, revenues reached almost US$1.3 billion, of which PE Applied Biosystems was US$653 million. The company acquired GenScope, Inc., and Linkage Genetics, Inc. The Linkage Genetics unit was combined with Zoogen to form PE AgGen, focused on genetic analysis services for plant and animal breeding. The PE Applied Biosystems division partnered with Hyseq, Inc., for work on the new DNA chip technology, and also worked with Tecan U.S., Inc., on combinatorial chemistry automation systems, and also with Molecular Informatics, Inc. on genetic data management and analysis automated systems.
PE Biosystems