By Lori Sichtermann

An Interview with Ruby Chandy, President, Bioscience Technologies Division

Ruby Chandy

It is difficult to imagine a laboratory clinician who has never heard of Thermo Electron Corp. Many in the industry are familiar with the company’s name, and even more rely on Thermo’s technology to perform delicate research. What is a bit more difficult to find is a clinician who knows what the company stands for and the principles it must uphold when developing its products and technology for the clinical laboratory market.

Clinical Lab Products recently spoke with Ruby Chandy, president of Thermo’s Bioscience Technologies Division regarding the company’s position within the clinical laboratory market and the role the Bioscience Technologies Division plays in supplying the laboratory and aiding in the research of the individual clinician.

CLP: Would you please give some background on the company, and the role the Bioscience Technologies Division plays within it?

Ruby Chandy: Thermo Electron plays a substantial role in providing analytical instruments, scientific equipment, services, and software solutions for life-science, drug-discovery, clinical, environmental, and industrial laboratories. Additionally, Thermo’s measurement and control business provides analytical instruments used in a variety of manufacturing processes and in-the-field applications, including those associated with safety and homeland security.

Serving as part of the Life and Laboratory Science business of Thermo, the Bioscience Technologies Division provides application-driven laboratory sample preparation and automated management solutions to ensure sample integrity for scientific research and discovery challenges. The division supports life science laboratory work that advances the prevention and cure of diseases.

Over the past several years, the company has brought together several independent, publicly traded companies under one corporate structure and the one corporate brand of Thermo Electron. The most recent of these companies was an acquisition made earlier this year of Jouan SA, which brought an extensive portfolio of sample preparation products and technologies to complement the existing offering of the bioscience technologies division. The company is now in the process of combining its capabilities to provide customers with more products and technologies for productive and successful research.

CLP: Who are the customers for the Bioscience Technologies Division?

Chandy: We reach a global base of scientists and clinicians who are involved in a wide range of work areas, including the discovery of new drugs and industrial research. Our client base also is involved with the development of academic research, forensics, clinical diagnostics, and analysis.

CLP: What kinds of products does the division provide to the clinical laboratory market?

Chandy: Thermo’s Bioscience Technologies Division provides solutions to meet the challenges of clinical laboratory professionals worldwide. Areas of expertise include 4C to -196C cold-storage solutions, such as laboratory refrigerators/freezers, ultralow temperature [ULT] freezers, and cryopreservation environments. The division also offers an extensive line of centrifuges, from microcentrifuges to floor-standing models; cell washers, CO2 incubators, and microbiological incubators; safety cabinets and clean benches; a full line of single and multichannel pipettes and tips; water baths; and fluorescent and photometric readers.

The Bioscience Technologies Division of Thermo takes pride in being able to offer solutions beyond the individual tools. We understand how the whole lab needs to integrate and work together in order to simplify the customer’s experience. We offer products for automated equipment to prepare and preserve samples for highly sensitive analysis systems, and also for software that manages a scientist’s critical data. We are constantly expanding our breadth and depth of equipment, as well as our consumable and service offerings to help a lab operate.

CLP: What new products are being developed by the Bioscience Technologies Division of Thermo?

Chandy: Thermo is making a large investment in the research and development of new products and technologies that will meet the needs of the market and lead to the success of our customers. For example, in 2003 the company spent 6.5% of its total revenue on research and development. This number is similar to what the Bioscience Technologies Division spends on research and development of its products for research and clinical applications.

In addition to our line of centrifugation and sample preparation products, we are introducing novel multichannel pipettes and automation products, including automated centrifuges. One of our goals is to continue developing innovative solutions to laboratory sample storage and management that includes robotic platforms, integrated automation, additional products for blood-banking applications, and sample-management systems.

CLP: What kinds of products does the Bioscience Technologies Division provide to the market to aid in safety and homeland security?

Chandy: Our division has a broad line of biosafety cabinets and laminar airflow workstations for the purpose of providing a safe environment in which to handle moderate to high-risk microorganisms for cell culture, diagnostic procedures, or the preparation of therapeutic agents. In addition, we have a line of magnetic particle processors, the KingFisher®, which automates the sample preparation of nucleic acid purification resulting in hands-free handling of infectious samples for analysis. Finally, we are developing sample management software that can be used with our cold-storage devices when select agents are used.

In addition to these products, our incubators, ULTs, laboratory refrigerators, orbital shakers, centrifuges, and pipettes are being used throughout the country in Level 2 and 3 laboratories for the rapid analysis of potential biological threats.

As a company, Thermo Electron has additional offerings for the detection of nuclear materials, explosives, chemical and biological agents, and radiological protection. We offer highly sensitive fixed and portable instruments for monitoring and safeguarding seaports, airports, borders, and critical facilities.

CLP: What changes in the market have you observed over the past 5 years? To what do you attribute these changes? How has your division of Thermo changed to meet the demands of the market?

Chandy: Customers today demand more of their suppliers than just products. They want a supplier who can support them each step of the way in achieving their goals whether it is research, quality control, productivity, or software. Thermo understands this need and is committed to delivering a full range of products, software, services, and integrated platforms that meet the demands of today’s market.

We know that our customers need to increase productivity and we have addressed this by providing integrated technology platforms that can automate traditional laboratory manual procedures. We also realize that planning and building a new lab can be an overwhelming process; therefore, we have specialists who can help facilitate the process from the initial planning and financing, to providing complete product suites and solutions.

In the laboratory there are two types of customers who have individual needs and pressure points: scientists and lab directors. We need to help scientists run their experiments better, faster, and more accurately so they can focus on the promise of their research. For today’s lab director, we must focus on improving the functionality and output of the lab, yielding measurable data and demonstrating return for their investment. The demands of these two customer sets are intimately connected and each customer looks to scientific tool providers like Thermo to create the most optimal and efficient laboratory structure to propel as well as streamline their work. Thermo works hard to respond to these individual needs, bridging the gaps and unifying both sets of priorities as their needs and our technologies evolve.

We also have seen a greater need for safety in the laboratory. From the way samples are handled and managed to the need for precise instrumentation for detection, we can provide these solutions from one provider backed by global service and software solutions.

CLP: What have been the advantages of the diversification of Thermo? What are your division’s plans for the future?

Chandy: With a broad product portfolio and added technologies, Thermo is able to offer customers the true convenience of one source providing total solutions. In addition, our added initiatives provide a network of experience and support services that cannot be duplicated by any other supplier in this market to customers throughout the world.

The Bioscience Technologies Division will continue to broaden its product line while strengthening our services to help customers gain advantages through stronger partnering and supply of integrated solutions.

CLP: Any final thoughts?

Chandy: Thermo Electron and its Bioscience Technologies Division offers the same strong products that are widely used in the clinical laboratory market, such as Forma® CO2 Incubators, Savant vacuum concentration systems, CRS Dimension4 integrated automation, and Finnpipettes®. We are continuing to add products to our portfolio, most recently Jouan centrifuges, Heto-Holten laminar airflow workstations, and new capabilities in automation, as well as software and services that will allow us to offer unmatched support and solutions to customers on a global basis.

Lori Sichtermann is associate editor of Clinical Lab Products.