Bringing you the latest Business News updates from the science industry
by Heather Hobbs
Revolutionising Soil Testing
Owen Mumford Appoints Sales & Marketing Director
Judith Charles has joined Owen Mumford to take up the position of Sales & Marketing Director. As a member of the Executive Management Team, she will report directly to Jarl Severn, Managing Director and will be responsible for leading the Group’s sales & marketing function based at the company’s head offi ce in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Judith’s career has spanned a range of disciplines including sales & business development, marketing and innovation, particularly within international markets. Prior to her new role, she enjoyed a successful career at Firmenich, a large private, family-owned Swiss company where Judith undertook a number of different roles including Marketing Director, Global Brand Director, Vice President of Product Development and Innovation and most recently as Managing Director of the UK. Prior to Firmenich, Judith was European Sales & Marketing Director at RP Scherer where she developed close ties and sales growth with global blue chip companies, such as Unilever, Boots and L’Oréal.
Nick Harris A University of Southampton researcher
has helped to develop a wireless network of sensors that is set to revolutionise soil-based salinity measuring.
Dr Nick Harris, from Electronics and Electrical Engineering, worked with a group of professors from the University of Western Australia (UWA) to produce a sensor capable of measuring the chloride (salt) in the soil moisture. Sensors can also be linked in a wireless networks that can collate and relay readings and also control the time intervals at which measurements are taken. Battery-powered, the unit can transmit data by short range radio, Bluetooth, satellite or mobile phone network and be logged to a memory card.
Dr Harris said “At plant level, probes can be positioned at continuous levels of depth to determine the salt concentration to which roots are exposed and whether this concentration changes with the depth of the soil or in different weather conditions. We can also measure how well a plant performs at a particular concentration and change the salt content for a few days and observe the effects.
“On a bigger scale, sensors could be placed at different locations at catchment scale to observe any changes in the level of salinity within a fi eld over time, having a direct impact on irrigation strategies. We have already been able to make some interesting observations on real world chloride concentration changes over just 24 hour periods, illustrating the dangers of relying on single point, single time measurements.”
Dr Harris’s sabbatical at UWA was supported with £2,000 of funding from the World University Network (WUN) with the sensor development work supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC).
Sciences
He worked on the research project with Dr Andy Cranny from Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton and Professors Keith Smettem, Neil Coles, Ed Barrett-Lennard and Mark Rivers from UWA.
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Judith said of her new appointment, “I am thrilled to join Owen Mumford because their products offer people life-changing possibilities and I’m passionate about playing my role in this particular area of healthcare. I am especially excited by
the company’s development within emerging markets and look forward to working with new teams of people in the world of specialist medical devices in both the UK and across the globe.”
Jarl Severn, Managing Director said, “We are very pleased Judith has joined us and feel certain her high calibre business knowledge will play a critical part in helping steer Owen Mumford towards its 2020 VISION. Judith’s expertise together with her considerable
international
experience will contribute signifi cantly towards developing our sales and marketing strategy, helping to put Owen Mumford in
Judith Charles
an even stronger position within this highly competitive medical sector.”
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Magritek Appoints Key Professionals to Support Services
Magritek, leading providers of compact NMR and MRI systems, has expanded its sales and marketing team with two experienced industry professionals.
Silverio (Sal) Iacono, who is to head up the company’s sales operations worldwide, has spent his career leading sales and marketing teams for analytical tools. Formerly Vice President and General Manager of PerkinElmer’s mass spectrometry business and with nearly 25 years working in the scientifi c community, he arrives at Magritek enthusiastic to help further build the company into a world-leading business.
Joining him is another spectroscopy veteran. John Paul Cerroti has worked in analytical instrumentation for nearly thirty years. With a background in materials science, Cerroti has held senior sales and marketing roles for many of the leading innovators in spectroscopy tools including PerkinElmer, Renishaw and Oxford Instruments. Cerroti is based at the Magritek European headquarters in Aachen, Germany.
In welcoming these new members to his team, Magritek CEO, Andrew Coy, is excited by the experience and open-minded, fresh ideas joining the company. “As we have built the organisation over the last ten years, we have experienced steady growth. However, since we launched the Spinsolve family of NMR spectrometers, we have seen a large increase in the interest for instruments that fi t into educational programs where the system delivers rapid, repeatable results with minimal operator interaction. Now we have operations on three continents and further expansion in the pipeline, we are confi dent that Sal and John Paul will make vital contributions to Magritek.
Magritek’s latest Spinsolve system allows 13C NMR Spectroscopy and delivers more detail in its spectra than use of the more basic 1H nucleus.
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Thermo Fisher Scientific
Completes Sale
Thermo Fisher Scientifi c has completed the sale of its cell culture (sera and media), gene modulation and magnetic beads businesses to GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, for $1.065 billion.
The businesses will become part of GE Healthcare’s Life Sciences division.
The
combined revenue of the three businesses was $250 million in 2013.
Thermo Fisher committed to sell these
businesses to address regulatory concerns related to its acquisition of Life Technologies Corporation, which was completed on 3rd February 2014.
29434pr@reply-direct.com Summit Partners Makes a Minority Investment in IDT
Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) has announced a minority investment by growth equity investor Summit Partners. IDT’s founder, Dr Joseph Walder, will remain the company’s majority owner. Additional terms of the investment were not disclosed.
One of the largest manufacturers of custom nucleic acid products the company supplies scientists with synthetic DNA and RNA sequences, serving the academic research, biotechnology, clinical diagnostics, and pharmaceutical sectors. “Our success is based on the highest quality custom biology products, delivered quickly, and a signifi cant investment in research and development,” said Dr Walder. “My team and I have gotten to know Summit over several years and we are confi dent they will add signifi cant value to our organisation. We look forward to partnering with Summit to grow our business.”
“We are very enthusiastic about working with Dr. Walder and the team at IDT,” said Michael Anderson, a Principal at Summit Partners who joined IDT’s Board of Directors. “IDT is the clear market-leader in the fi eld of synthetic DNA, serving a very large and diversifi ed customer base. The strong and long-term relationships that the company has built with its customers are extremely impressive.”
Craig Frances, MD, a Managing Director with Summit Partners who also joined IDT’s Board, added, “IDT has the highest quality products and best customer service in the world, which is why more than 82,000 researchers rely on the company. Dr. Walder and his team are truly pioneers in the life science tools sector and we are very pleased to be their partner.”
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To be included in our next issue, send all your Business and Financial News stories to
heather@intlabmate.com
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