Agilent acquires Luxcel Biosciences

Agilent Technologies Inc. announced it has acquired Cork, Ireland-based Luxcel Biosciences, a developer of real-time fluorescence plate-reader based in vitro cell assay kits.

This acquisition expands Agilent's cell analysis portfolio with the addition of easy-to-use assay kits that are compatible with industry standard plate-readers.

"Technological advancements allowing researchers to examine cell health and function kinetically and in real-time are driving global demand for complete cell analysis solutions," said Todd Christian, General Manager of Agilent's Cell Analysis Division.

"Luxcel's assay kits are optimized for standard fluorescent plate readers for broad customer application helping to address this growing demand."

Luxcel is developing a portfolio of in vitro cell-based assay kits and solutions targeting cell metabolism, drug safety, and toxicity, as well as hypoxia and oxidative stress for a variety of life science customers from research institutions to pharmaceutical companies.

Scientists use this technology to understand the role of cell metabolism across a variety of important research areas including cancer, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, immunology, and infectious disease.

Agilent entered the cell analysis market in 2015 with the acquisition of Seahorse Bioscience, a leader in providing specialized instruments and live-cell, kinetic assays. "Luxcel is highly complementary to our Seahorse offerings," said Christian. "With this acquisition, we further extend our leadership in live-cell, kinetic assays accelerating our expansion into pharmaceutical and biopharma discovery and in vitro toxicology screening applications."

"We are a young and motivated group," said Richard Fernandes, CEO of Luxcel. "When Agilent approached us, it was clear to me that we have a shared passion for innovation designed to enable and support customers. Together, we have the potential to accelerate new product introductions by leveraging Agilent's R&D and global commercial infrastructures with our unique biosensor chemistries and assay development expertise."

Founded in 2002 by Richard Fernandes and Dmitri Papkovsky as a spin-out company from University College Cork and a member of the High Potential Start-Up program at Enterprise Ireland, Luxcel has 12 employees and is headquartered in Cork, Ireland.

The Luxcel team will remain in Cork and form a dedicated sensor chemistries and bioassay solutions group within Agilent's Cell Analysis Division. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed.