Invitrogen

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Invitrogen
Image:Invitrogen_logo.gif
Type Public company
Founded 1987
Location Carlsbad, CA, USA
Key people Gregory T. Lucier
Chairman and CEO
Industry Manufacturing
Products Chemical reagents, procedure kits, specialized laboratory supplies
Revenue $1 billion (2004)
Website http://www.invitrogen.com/

Invitrogen Corporation (NASDAQ: IVGN) is a life science research products manufacturer. It is based in Carlsbad, California and conducts business in over 70 countries. Employing over 4,800 worldwide, Invitrogen is one of the largest companies in its field. Its products enjoy an ubiquitous presence in laboratories of the United States and the world.

[edit] History

Invitrogen was founded in 1987 and incorporated in 1989. The company owed its success primarily to the popularity of its innovative kits for molecular cloning. The company expanded significantly when it acquired rival company Life Technologies in 2000.

Invitrogen then engaged in a series of rapid mergers and acquisitions. Numerous established companies, such as Molecular Probes, Dynal, Panvera, Genicon Sciences, Zymed, and Caltag Laboratories, and smaller research products manufacturers were brought under the Invitrogen brand name.

As a direct result of these actions, the company owns a large number of the industry's flagship products: Dynabeads magnetic separation technology, Gibco-brand cell-culture products, SuperScript-brand reverse transcriptase, Platinum Hot-Start Taq polymerase, Novex-brand protein electrophoresis products, and numerous fluorescent reagents like Alexa Fluor Dyes.