PerkinElmer, a global provider focused on the health and safety of people and the environment, has acquired Bedford-based VisEn Medical, an in vivo molecular imaging technology company.
The acquisition enables PerkinElmer to enhance its cellular imaging business, by expanding the company’s technologies and capabilities downstream into preclinical research undertaken in academic institutes and medical companies.
VisEn’s fluorescence molecular imaging systems and reagents are currently used in applications involving research into cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular, skeletal and pulmonary diseases.
The VisEn offering includes Fluorescence Agent Portfolio and its Fluorescence Molecular Tomographic (FMTTM) Imaging Systems. The technologies provide quantitative molecular imaging data that can be useful for identifying and characterising a range of disease biomarkers and therapeutic efficacy in cells and animal models.
The cellular imaging approach, combined with PerkinElmer technologies, can enable better screening and optimisation of potential new drugs, through translational biomarker research. This can provide an increased correlation of isolated cellular activity with in vivo biological activity, which will allow researchers to get closer to understanding human responses and thereby develop better potential therapies.
Richard Eglen, president of bio-discovery at PerkinElmer, said: “VisEn provides a compelling offering in molecular imaging platforms and tools that are synergistic with PerkinElmer’s existing business.
“This acquisition will advance further PerkinElmer’s mission to assist life sciences and medical research in finding additional ways to provide better diagnostic capabilities.”