October 28, 2008: Microfluidic pioneer Dolomite is celebrating both the opening of its Japanese office and sales growth of over 200% during the past year. Dolomite is becoming a leader in the development and manufacture of the microfluidic chips and connectors that are used in such industries as drug discovery, drug delivery, forensics, and clinical diagnostics.
Microfluidics, a technology also known as ‘lab on a chip’, enables very small-scale fluid control and analysis, allowing instrument manufacturers to develop smaller, more cost-effective, and more powerful systems. With lab-on-a-chip technology, entire complex chemical management and analysis systems are created in a microfluidic chip and interfaced with, for example, electronic and optical detection systems.
“We are delighted with these achievements,” said Mark Gilligan, managing director of Dolomite. “Most of this increase is due to more sales from commercial customers, particularly in the field of heathcare. In this area, microfluidics has the potential to enable smaller instruments and smaller fluid samples to be used, allowing more frequent testing to be carried out and hence potentially greater control of a patient’s condition.” The company also has seen an increase in sales from academic organizations for research work, he added.
Over the past year Dolomite has broken new ground with the development of quartz based microfluidic devices, a new generation of complex multi-layer microfluidic devices, droplet generation and management technology, a range of microfluidic connectors and advances in pumping technology for microfluidic systems. They have been working on projects ranging from mobile environmental analysis systems to DNA analysis.
Dolomite’s new Japanese sales office will be headed by Kozo Hori. Hori-san has extensive experience of selling into the scientific instrument sector and is a graduate of Osaka Institute of Technology, having majored in Industrial Management. Dolomite’s capabilities have received considerable interest from the Asia region. The establishment of the Japanese office is intended to bring the company closer to its customers within this market and to open up new opportunities within the region.
