Category: Company News

The discovery and early identification of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, was made possible by Next-Generation DNA sequencing technology (NGS). This discovery was made very quickly after the disease emerged in Wuhan, China and represents the all-important first step in identifying the virus genome. This sequencing allows for the testing and treatment development processes to kick into high gear. One of the earliest published articles on the novel coronavirus discusses the NGS methods used to examine its genome.

IDEX Health & Science (IH&S) has long played an enabling role in NGS with its fluidic and optical products and strong engineering partnerships with sequencing companies. DNA sequencing manufacturers rely on IH&S to design and manufacture fluidic and optical components and sub-systems. Our sites in Bristol, CT, Rohnert Park, CA, Middleboro, MA, Oak Harbor, WA, and Kawaguchi, Japan focus on advanced fluidic systems technologies that partition, degas, and mix sequencing fluids, while our Rochester, NY, and Carlsbad, CA sites innovate the optical systems that have helped to greatly improve sequencing throughput and efficiencies.

Discovering the RNA sequence of SARS-CoV-2 enables the development of the diagnostic tests that are in such high demand. These tests are possible due to a technology known as polymerase chain reaction, or PCR. The invention of PCR more than 30 years ago is considered one of the greatest inventions of the last century. It’s a procedure in which millions of copies of a pathogen’s genetic material are made so they can be detected from a patient sample. It is essentially an amplification method, whereby small amounts of genetic material that may be present in bodily fluids, hair, or tissues can be increased so that there is enough for analysis. Testing is crucial to stem the spread of COVID-19 because it allows health care workers to identify and quarantine infected people. This is a critical step in mitigating the spread so that COVID-19 does not overwhelm healthcare systems.

IDEX Health & Science works with many diagnostic companies around the world who are creating new PCR assays and instrument platforms to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples of our contribution to this technology can be seen in our Semrock line of optical filters that are employed in many PCR optical detection systems. These filters improve detection sensitivity by separating the signal from the noise and select for a targeted wavelength of light emitted from a PCR probe that measures the amount of SARS-CoV-2. Our microfluidics business lines in Zweibrucken, Germany and Wallingford, Connecticut provide high precision devices for the critical manipulation of PCR fluids and reagents.

While the current focus is to detect cases of COVID-19, we anticipate that the next phase will be to ramp testing capacity to support COVID-19 patients and to measure and track populations who have gained immunity due to exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Our core capabilities in life science applications along with the products designed and manufactured at all of our fluidics sites play a large role in supporting clinical chemistry analyzers and high throughput immunoassay platforms.

We are living our mission, “Trusted Solutions, Improving Lives”, like never before. Our efforts to support our customers, who develop and supply key instruments, are an essential part of our healthcare infrastructure.

“From the characterization of this new virus to mass testing, IDEX Health & Science has played a critical role in supporting our customers whose instruments are being used 24/7 in the fight against this pandemic. I could not be prouder of our employees as they deliver on our mission and take care of each other during these extraordinary times.” Joe Rytell, President, IDEX Health & Science.

Learn more about IDEX Health & Science at www.idex-hs.com

 

 

As the magnitude of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, China became clear, the Chinese government mobilized its resources and set out to build two new hospitals in less than two weeks. To help make it happen Chinese government suppliers reached out to IDEX China for several mission-critical components.

Even though businesses were already closed for the Lunar New Year holiday and many employees had begun traveling to visit family for the holiday break, the great teams of IDEX assembled and shipped a variety of orders for coronavirus response.

The IDEX efforts have included:

• Pulsafeeder SPO donating LB series and LCC4 dosing pumps to the Red Cross of Yangzhou to disinfect waste water in the new hospitals;
• BAND-IT supplying clamps for 1,300 new ambulances and other vehicles for emergency medical transport;
• Gast delivering pumps for ventilation in the hospitals; and
• IDEX Health & Science providing degassers, tubing and connections for blood chemistry analyzers, and tubing and connections for Chemiluminescence Immunoassay Analyzers.

IDEX China continues to place the health of its employees above all else, checking daily on not only the health of our employees, but also their families. We are proud of IDEX teams in China who contributed to the hospital and ambulance building projects. Please keep our Chinese colleagues in your thoughts during this challenging time.

Recognized as a leader in Optics & Fluidics, IDEX Health & Science unveiled its new Film Degasser to the Fluidics industry last month. The Film Degasser is a component in the fluidic path of an instrument used to improve instrument precision and reliability by removing dissolved gases from fluids before they outgas and create problem-causing bubbles in High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) applications.

HPLC is a technology used to separate and identify mixtures of substances in a solution and measure individual components of a mixture – often helping test drugs for the Food and Drug Administration. The technology is also used to identify carcinogen compounds, pesticides and poisons to help improve water purification.

Using a high-efficiency membrane and unique flow channel design, the Film Degasser, which is about the size of a pack of gum, provides more performance and the lowest fluidic resistance in the industry.

Further enhanced with vacuum control methodology for consistent performance, the Film Degasser uses a patent-pending algorithm, which allows advanced control to select the optimal degassing efficiency for any HPLC separation method. It also enables users to integrate the degasser into the separation method control protocol and select a given efficiency for any HPLC system, which can be programmed to exact specifications for every application.

“As a market leader in degassing technology, our latest product is aimed at revolutionizing degassing in the industry. With it, we have created a versatile, high-performance system that is suitable for universal application,” said Saba Jazeeli, Senior Product Manager of the Analytical Instrument Market at IDEX Health & Science.  “It eliminates the design limitations of tubing-based degassers, delivering reduced pervaporation and a lower environmental impact by controlling the discharge of solvent vapors to the laboratory atmosphere.”

To learn more about the Film Degasser, click here

To watch a video of how the Film Degasser works, click here

BAND-IT in Chesterfield, United Kingdom was recently featured on Channel 5’s “Britain’s Greatest Bridges”.

At 2.2 km (1.37 miles) long, the Humber Bridge in Yorkshire, England, was the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge when it was completed in 1981. Longer than the Golden Gate Bridge in the United States, Humber Bridge is fortified with BAND-IT steel buckles and bands.

BAND-IT products are still used on the Humber Bridge today, as well as two other notable U.K. suspension bridges – the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland (2.5 km long) and the Severn Bridge (1.6 km) between South Gloucestershire in England and Monmouthshire in South East Wales.

The below image shows our Giant Band being installed on the suspension cables during the construction of the Humber Bridge some 40 years ago.

The TV series, which is produced by Viacom, focuses on six of Britain’s most iconic bridges and how they were designed and constructed.

If you’re located in the UK, you can watch the video here

 

 

The Fitzpatrick Company recently partnered with Siemens, a global electrification, automation and digitization provider, on the development of the control system on their Contained Compaction System (CCS) which is used by the pharmaceutical industry to create granulated powders during the manufacture of Oral Solid Dosage.

To watch a video of how the product works, click here

After years of success with its CCS family of roller compactors, Fitzpatrick team members wanted to update the control software and incorporate the latest automation advances to remain competitive.

The goal was to come up with a smaller, lighter machine –all managed by an easy-to-use automation system for monitoring and control, complete with reporting capabilities fully compliant with requirements mandated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States and matched by similar requirements of other national regulators. That’s when Arash Avvali, Senior Controls Engineer at IDEX MPT, tapped on Siemens Corporation.

“Siemens automation system is the most user friendly. It’s so much easier to troubleshoot. There’s way less wiring too. And the cost is lower as well,” Arash said. “Their Portal Software is also super powerful and has lots of great features. It’s so easy to work with”

A Safety Controller was put in place to anchor the solution, complemented with a Panel PC to help manage all the reporting requirements, and Comfort Panels to make operating the machines simple and intuitive, with an abundance of information made available. The whole solution was engineered to not only be extremely reliable, but also very flexible, giving the IDEX MPT team the ability to make refinements for customers tailored to their specific needs and requests.

In 2018, several customers were able to test prototypes of the product and praised the CCS for its compact size, ease of use and the ability to clean the product more regularly.

Orders from this project have boosted sales in 2019, keeping Fitzpatrick in a competitive leadership position in years to come.

The Fitzpatrick Company and Quadro Engineering Corp. are Units of IDEX Material Processing Technologies and have been trusted partners of the majority of the world’s top pharmaceutical, chemical and food ingredient processing customers. IDEX Material Process Technologies (MPT) includes four companies — Quadro, Fitzpatrick, Matcon and Microfluidics.

 

 

Weldon, a unit of Akron Brass, partnered with “Wagons Ho Ho Ho” on “Build Day” last week, packing Christmas dinners for local families, all in a shiny new red wagon.

Thirty-three Weldon team members worked alongside other community sponsors to build 1,500 Roadmaster Pacific Cycle wagons, and pack them with dinners with turkey, corn, yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans.

In months leading up to “Build Day”, Weldon team members collected more than 600 cans of corn, 100 cans of green beans and 500 boxes of stuffing, which were used to pack the dinners.

Based in Columbus, Ohio, Wagons Ho Ho Ho is a charity that delivers hope to families in need throughout central Ohio during the holidays.

To watch a video of Build Day from 2017, click here

Weldon produces multiplexing electronics and lighting used in the fire truck, emergency vehicle, and school bus markets

Amanda Macuiba, a Compensation Analyst at IDEX Corporate in Chicago, qualified for the 2020 USA Olympic Track & Field Trials by finishing in less than 2 hours 45 minutes at the California International Marathon in Sacramento on Sunday.

To qualify for the Women’s US Olympic Team Trials, participants must finish a marathon (26.2 miles) in less than 2:45:00. Amanda sped through the course with an average pace of 6:17 minutes/mile and finished with 31 seconds to spare and a personal best time of 2:44:29.

“Around mile 17, I began to get tired and started to struggle. I negotiated internally and forced myself to stay engaged. I saw a couple of girls who were also trying to qualify, and just focused on remaining close to them,” Amanda said. “Around mile 20, I found a second wind. My mentality completely shifted, and I realized that I could still do it!”

“I love being able to set goals, especially when it’s a stretch, and see them accomplished,” she said. “Unreal is the only word I have. All those 100-mile weeks, all of the exhaustion paid off. Crossing the finish line, I’ve never felt more prideful.”

“It’s baffling and amazing at the same time,” she said.

Growing up, Amanda’s family vacations were tied to the locations of the Ironman Triathlons in which her father raced. She began running when she joined the cross country team in high school, but focused on soccer as she entered her freshman year of college at Illinois Wesleyan University.

She decided to leave the soccer team after her freshman year and began running the Steeplechase for the Illinois Wesleyan Track & Field team in 2013. Embracing her new sport, she ran her first marathon in Vienna, Austria, in 2015 and competed in the Division III Women’s National Outdoor Championships during her senior year of college.

After graduating college, Amanda ran six more marathons, including the Boston, Chicago, and California International, before deciding to train for the Olympic trials. When she attempted to qualify for the trials earlier in 2019, she ran the Illinois Marathon in 2 hours 50 minutes.

“I was so frustrated with myself (for not qualifying), that I immediately registered for the CIM (California International Marathon). I knew I had run a personal best there a year earlier, and wanted to give myself a six month training cycle,” she said.

With the help of family friend and 1996 US Olympic Trial Winner Jenny Spangler, Amanda significantly improved her speed in short distances, long-term endurance, strength, and flexibility over the last six months.

Amanda will continue to partner with Jenny and plans to start training again as early as next week.

The 2020 USA Olympic Track & Field Trials will take place in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, February 29. The three women with the fastest finishes will make the U.S. Olympic Team and will compete in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

About 200 women competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials marathon in February 2016. The winners who went on to the games in Rio de Janeiro all had times just under 2 hours 30 minutes.

Congratulations, Amanda!!