Industry News: Bruker acquires Prolab Instruments to augment multiomics solutions

Bruker Corporation has announced the acquisition of Prolab Instruments GmbH, a Swiss technology company specialized in low-flow, high precision liquid chromatography technology, and systems. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Established in 1988, ProLab’s innovations center around micro and nano-UHPLC pump technology, resulting in the development of the unique Zirconium™ split-less pump technology for flow rates from nano-flow (4-800 nL/min) to cap-flow (1-10 µL/min) regimes. The Zirconium™ Ultra nano- and cap-UHPLC system supports a broad range of flow rates from 4 nL/min to 10 µL/min at 1000 bar (15,000 psi) and is suitable for cap-LC in high-throughput proteomics and metabolomics.

Recently, Prolab launched the innovative Zirconium Qube autosampler with the proprietary mobile injection unit technology that integrates the injector valve and loop, and moves to each sample vial to minimize carry-over, thereby enabling ultra-low volume injections with high precision. This unique high-precision injection capability has the potential to further enhance single-cell proteomics.

Leveraging nearly 30 years of experience with low flow rates and minimized dead volumes, Prolab also offers unique Zircofit™ fused silica connectors known for flexibility, robustness, and ease of use.

Mr. Werner Doebelin, the Founder and CEO of Prolab, said: “We are pleased to become part of Bruker and augment the proteomics and metabolomics workflows of high-performance mass spectrometry systems like the timsTOF or scimaX® MRMS platforms. Our Zirconium pump is already part of the Bruker high-performance nanoElute system. Being part of Bruker allows us to increase the pace of product innovation, and we are looking forward to bringing our Mobile Injection Unit Technology to market to further improve performance and robustness in key applications, like single-cell proteomics and lipidomics.”

Mr. Juergen Srega, the President of the Bruker CALID Group, explained: “Given the enormous sensitivity improvements of our timsTOF Pro 2 and timsTOF SCP mass spectrometers, our customers are working with lower and lower sample amounts. Prolab’s innovative mobile injector technology on the Zirconium Qube autosampler provides high-precision, low volume injections with minimal sample loss and carryover, as well as faster cycle times. Zirconium perfectly complements our ultra-high sensitivity unbiased, deep 4D proteomics, immunopeptidomics, and single-cell proteomics solutions.”

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