News

He worked until recently as Head of R&D for laboratory equipment and brings extensive experience throughout his career in previous roles in areas as development engineer, project leader, application architect and software development manager in the industry of medical devices and printing.

With his vision and drive for advancement Nicolas will play a key role driving innovation within the company.

Nicolas holds a Master of Science in Automation and Software Engineering from Southern Alsace National Engineering School ENSISA in France as well as in Electrical Engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in Canada. He also obtained an MBA at the Edinburgh Business School and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland.

We kicked off the year with the inauguration of the new Techfors-S production line. Through the scaleup of our capabilities in this state-of-the-art facility, we are best equipped to continue meeting the increasing demand from #biopharma and biotech for stainlesssteel bioreactors.

Take a glimpse into the new production facility and watch Lucas Kuehner, our CEO, share why this is important.

Confirmed orders: All orders that have been confirmed until November 3rd, 2022 will be produced.

Repairs: Repairs are guaranteed within the the next 5 years.

Successor product: The Ecotron will not be replaced and we we encourage you to switch to the Minitron incubator shaker as an alternative product for future projects.

Kuno Sommer is Chairman of the Board of Bachem and various other biotech companies. In his 20+ years of professional career in the life science industry he has been amongst other functions a member of the Roche Executive committee and CEO of Berna Biotech.

The Board of Directors team consists of Kuno Sommer, Simone Wyss, Christoph Meyer, Nils Oyo and Anja Hawrylenko.

We are looking forward to an exciting 2022 together.

Dr Susanne Braum will take-over the overall business responsibility for INFORS HT activities in Germany. She will play an important role in enhancing the group’s market position in this key market. Susanne joins INFORS HT with more than 20 years of experience in the international marketing & sales of medical and laboratory systems and life science applications as well as market and business development programmes. Her capacity to foster solid co-operations and partnerships with customers will be of significant benefit.

Susanne worked until recently as Head of Application Technology for a Germany based, internationally renowned provider of laboratory products and services for the life science industry. Earlier in her career, she took responsibility as Manager Market & Business Intelligence of a leading international supplier of scientific analytical instruments in life sciences, medical & industry. Previous positions in her career included roles as Senior Market Manager for lab automation solutions, measuring equipment and diagnostics as well as Product Manager and Sales Representative for high-performance screening systems in pharmaceutical drug research.

Susanne has a broad background from working in different internationally renowned companies in the field of Life Sciences, Medical Technology and Biotechnology. She holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Tübingen and a Master of Science in Biology from the University of Kaiserslautern.

The Executive Board welcomes Susanne to INFORS and wishes her every success in her career with the company.

After his studies in business administration in Basel, he began his career in management consulting, where he acquired extensive expertise in strategic development and implementation. He subsequently transferred to an international group, where, among other responsibilities, he headed the U.S. subsidiary before he was appointed to the group management in Basel. As division head, he assumed responsibility for the global introduction and optimization of business processes and developed strategies for customer care and sales approaches through digital technologies.

"We are pleased to have found in Lucas Kuehner a CEO with regional roots who at the same time has many years of international management experience. We are convinced that he will successfully lead our company into the future with his expertise," says Alexander Hawrylenko, Chairman of the Board of Directors of INFORS HT.

Our first priority is to protect the health and well-being of our employees, along with our customers, and to do our part to contain the virus. We follow global developments attentively, while implementing WHO recommendations consistently and with the utmost care.

You can access our products and place your requests as usual at www.infors-ht.com. Even in these challenging times, we are happy to provide you with advice and solution-oriented support. Your contact person can be reached by e-mail or telephone at the usual times. You can also contact us via LinkedIn and Facebook.

Take care and support each other. We firmly believe that we will get through the situation together.

Instead of the Core, Plan & Control as well as User Management & Reporting packages, there are three licenses which can now be selected:

• Basic: Essential monitoring and reporting features for shaker and bioreactor experiments, perfect for smaller budgets.
  
  
• Standard: Workflow-oriented planning tools including comprehensive features for bioprocess automation, control, monitoring and reporting.
• Premium: Full version to meet the technical requirements of FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and EudraLex Annex 11.

For customers, the new license structure offers an easier selection of the appropriate configuration and a simpler overview of the features.

A new driver structure simplifies the connection of various third-party devices. Via a clearly arranged user interface, the user can define parameters which are monitored and controlled via eve^®. The new drivers are available for OPC, Modbus and all Applikon bioreactors.

Learn more about eve^® and its features.

Brunsli

Ingredients:

• 200 g sugar
• 250 g ground almonds
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 pinch of cinnamon
• 100 g melted swiss chocolate
• 2 egg white

1. Preheat the oven to 250°C and measure out all the ingredients.

2. Mix sugar, almonds, flour, cinnamon and melted chocolate in a bowl. Fold in the egg white and stir until all the ingredients are combined, do not knead. Chill for 1 hour.

3. Sprinkle sugar on to a clean surface and roll out the dough until it is approximately 1 cm thick. Cut out the Brunsli with a shape cutter and let them dry overnight at room temperature.

4. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 4-6 minutes. Let the Brunsli cool down on the tray. Store in an airtight container

5. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!

As in the previous models, INFORS HT has implemented a modern design with clear lines. However, the new version of the pilot bioreactor has far much more to offer: "Besides the modern look with ergonomically arranged pumps and a tilting touch screen, we particularly focused on a consistently workflow-oriented user interface," explains Dr. Dirk Hebel, Lead Product Manager Bioreactors, INFORS HT.

The result is a real eye-catcher. Controlling the new Techfors pilot bioreactor using the touch screen user interface is child's play. The software is the same as that used in the smaller bioreactors. The advantage of this is that the user can get started right away – without the need for any familiarization. The interface and procedures are already familiar from the smaller bench-top and parallel bioreactors. The eve^® bioprocess software is used not only to control, monitor, and analyze complex bioprocesses but also to document them in conformity with GMP.

The proven advantages of the Techfors are also offered by the new version: each pilot bioreactor is produced precisely according to the customer's requirements. Thanks to the modular design, sensors or analysis devices can be retrofitted at any time later on. The INFORS HT team is available as required to provide support during qualification and validation.

The benefits at a glance:

• New INFORS HT design to suit the aesthetics of modern laboratories
• Uniform operation across devices for easy integration
• An Ethernet interface for reliable connection to eve^®

We’ve saved the best news until last: The new Minitron will be ready for delivery from September 2019. The previous beige version is now discontinued. Effective immediately, all forthcoming orders will be produced and shipped as the new version.

The latest eve^® version, Q2 2019, makes it even easier to integrate devices and software from third-party manufacturers into the platform. The new email alarm goes beyond the previous control and monitoring via the browser. It notifies the user as soon as an alarm occurs in a specific batch. The parameters for this alarm, such as temperature deviations or network problems, can be specified in advance for each batch. Here is an overview of the most important features of the new eve® version: 

• New automatic email alarm system: eve^® sends you emails in the case of batch alarms
• Increased compatibility and flexibility with 3rd party devices and software: New REST API and new user interface for drivers to easily and quickly integrate additional devices and software to eve^® 
• The LIS (Liquid Injection System) shake flask feed pumps from aquila biolabs is now supported by eve^®

Additional features and optimizations:

• Improved overall performance when opening batches
• Automatic notification when a new version becomes available
• New SI units for parameters are available
• Designation of user-specified functions in the batch strategy
• Parameters can be renamed to allow adoption of the name(s) used by the connected device
• Customizable OPC (DA, XML DA and UA) drivers with new user interface
• Customizable Modbus (RTU and TCP) driver with new user interface
• Customizable Applikon drivers with new user interface

The new version is available for free download to users with a valid Support & Assurance license.

The new Multitron offers researchers even better conditions for cultivating microorganisms, cell cultures and phototropic organisms. The new temperature-control concept allows users to achieve optimum, gradient-free temperature uniformity, guaranteeing comparable growth conditions across all batches. The hygienic design of the new Multitron has been improved as well, with rounded interior corners for a chamber that has fewer components, making it far easier to clean. And its new UV decontamination feature, its condensate-free, direct-steam humidification, and its antibacterial coating for the housing mean that the Multitron meets the stringent requirements of cell-culture applications.

The new Multitron also satisfies the increasing efficiency demands of the biotech industry. As was the case with its predecessor, the capacity-to-footprint ratio of this incubation shaker is unlike any other: by using a three-tier stacked configuration, researchers can cultivate over 50 liters and/or 23,000 batches in parallel—even though the base is only 1 m wide. The top unit remains at a comfortable working height of 1.40 m, while the new door mechanism and quick, automated start-stop feature keep interruptions in the cultivation process to a minimum.

“By combining traditional advantages with new features, the new Multitron is a response to trends and to new demands in research and development—developments that include increasing digitalization. Starting now, for example, the Multitron comes with an Ethernet interface that can be used for connecting to simple SCADA software such as eve^®,” explains Dr. Dirk Hebel, bioprocess equipment product manager for INFORS HT. Customers can place their orders for the new Multitron with any INFORS HT affiliate or distributor beginning January 18.