Massachusetts Attracts Microarray Company from United Kingdom

Roslin, Scotland-based Arrayjet, an inkjet microarrayers and microarray manufacturing company, has opened a sales office in Cambridge, Mass. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick visited the United Kingdom in March 2011 with a delegation of state leaders from industry, academia and government to promote mutually beneficial collaborations. Arrayjet officials suggested that the expansion to Cambridge is related to that visit. The governor is very keen on attracting more medtech companies to his state, which is already glut with firms and jobs in the sector.

Microarrays are 2-D arrays on a solid substrate (usually a glass slide or silicon thin-film cell) that assays large amounts of biological material using high-throughput screening methods.

Arrayjet has been in the microarray market since 2005 with the launch of the Marathon microarrayer, the first in a range of four microarray instruments using the company’s non-contact inkjet technology. Since then, Arrayjet has developed the product range and diversified the offering with the launch of Arrayjet Advance microarray services in 2011.

“We continue to see increased demand for our products and services in North America, and I’m delighted that moving forward we’ll have local sales efforts in one of the leading U.S. regions for life sciences to support existing and potential new customers here,” said Claire Jenkins, Arrayjet’s commercial director. “We are seeing continued growth at Arrayjet, and it’s an exciting time for us.”

“Thanks to our growth strategy of investing in education, innovation and infrastructure, Massachusetts continues to lead the world in life sciences,” said Governor Deval Patrick. “We welcome Arrayjet to the Commonwealth and look forward to them creating jobs and economic opportunities here in Massachusetts.”

“Arrayjet will join a broad and deep ecosystem in the global hub of life sciences,” said Ken Brown, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment.

Through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Massachusetts is investing $1 billion over 10 years in the growth of the state’s life sciences “supercluster.” These investments are being made under the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative, proposed by Patrick in 2007, and passed by the state legislature and signed into law by the governor in 2008.

“We are excited to welcome Arrayjet to the fast-growing Massachusetts life sciences community,” said Susan Windham-Bannister, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the agency charged with implementing Governor Patrick’s 10-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative. “With its cutting-edge microarray printers and services, Arrayjet will be an important partner for the Commonwealth’s R&D-focused organizations in both industry and academia. Arrayjet is among a growing group of international companies that have recently picked Massachusetts as the place to expand their business in the U.S.”

“Arrayjet is a great example of Scotland’s cutting-edge life science companies that continue to look for new market opportunities overseas in order to grow their business,” said Danny Cusick, president, Americas, Scottish Development International. “With a history of medical and scientific discovery stretching back 200 years and one of the largest life science clusters in Europe with significant international presence in research, development and manufacturing, Scotland has always been at the forefront of medical innovation.”