July 26, 2007 — ANN ARBOR, MI, and WEST CHESTER, PA — Assay Designs, Inc., a leading provider of immunoassay kits, antibodies, and reagents to the life sciences and translational research markets, and VWR International, LLC, a leading global distributor of scientific equipment, supplies, chemicals, and furniture, have announced a new distribution agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, VWR will offer North American customers a variety of Assay Designs’ products. Customers will immediately be able to obtain Assay Designs products through VWR.

The new relationship will strengthen both companies’ ability to reach and support customers. VWR targets an important customer base in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, which will assist Assay Designs with customer service, wider product distribution, and obtaining stronger customer relationships.

Michael Melnick, chief commercialization officer at Assay Designs, says, “VWR will play a critical role in our advancement in the industry. They have a strong hold in the life science industry and we are looking forward to building a successful relationship with VWR.”

“We are pleased to add Assay Designs to our portfolio of Life Science products and services,” says John D’Errico, category manager, life science, at VWR. “This agreement will continue to strengthen VWR’s ability to provide systems solutions for the best life science research products to our customers.”

About Assay Designs, Inc.
Based in Ann Arbor, MI, Assay Designs develops, manufactures and markets immunoassay (ELISA) kits, antibodies, and proteins that are used for life sciences research. The company markets these products under the “Assay Designs” and “Stressgen” brand names. Researchers use the company’s products to detect and quantify molecules that are important in inflammation, heat shock, cell signaling, and oxidative stress.

About VWR International, LLC
VWR International is a leader in the global research laboratory industry with worldwide sales in excess of $3 billion US dollars. VWR’s business is highly diversified across products and services, geographic regions, and customer segments. The company offers products from a wide range of manufacturers, to a large number of customers primarily in North America, Europe and other locations. VWR’s principal customers are major pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, technology, clinical, food processing, and consumer product companies, universities and research institutes, governmental agencies, environmental testing organizations, and primary and secondary schools. VWR distributes a diversified product mix, including chemicals, glassware and plasticware, equipment and instruments, furniture, protective apparel, production and safety products, and other life science and laboratory products and supplies. VWR supports its customers by providing storeroom management, product procurement, supply chain systems integration, technical services and laboratory bench top delivery. VWR maintains operations in more than20 countries and employs more than 6,000 people worldwide. VWR International is headquartered in West Chester, PA.

For more information on VWR International, visit www.vwr.com.

July 27, 2007 — /PRWEB/ — DUBLIN, PA — QuantumClean(R), the leading provider of outsourced parts cleaning, process tool part restoration, and surface treatment to the semiconductor industry, recently announced that the firm has completed the technology transfer for a strategic joint venture with Singapore-based Champ Asia to create the first Asian facility with QuantumClean’s technology standards, QuantumClean Asia.

QuantumClean recently transferred to QuantumClean Asia its key technology including recipes, process control, and expertise. The technology transfer to Asia enables QuantumClean to position itself as the leading technology player in the regional market and allows the firm to remain competitive with independent device manufacturers and also with foundries, which can be some of the world’s most challenging clients.

“This joint venture allows us to solidify our position as an industry leader,” says David Zuck, vice president of technology and operations for QuantumClean. “Now we can provide our processes, knowledge and expertise to the Asian market and extend our ability to serve international customers.”

QuantumClean has successfully launched a technology development roadmap with leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and independent device manufacturers (IDMs), which have also been introduced to Asia through QuantumClean Asia. QuantumClean is also leveraging its research and development capabilities in the U.S. to align with Asia’s leading players. QuantumClean Asia has formed a solid standard in the Asian market with QuantumClean’s technology, which has allowed the company to dramatically decrease its time to market and displace previously established service providers with significant gains in regional market share.

About QuantumClean
QuantumClean (Quantum Global Technologies, LLC) is the leading provider of outsourced parts cleaning, process tool part restoration, surface treatment and analytical engineering services for semiconductor fabricators. The company operates technologically innovative cleaning centers in every major semiconductor market across the U.S. and Asia, providing process improvement through consistently cleaner parts(R) that exceeds industry standards, dramatically reducing its customers’ total cost of ownership. Founded in 2000, QuantumClean is headquartered in Dublin, PA, with Advanced Technology Cleaning Centers(R) in the Silicon Valley, Pacific Northwest, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and New England regions.

For more about QuantumClean, visit the company’s web site at http://www.quantumclean.com.

July 25, 2007 — /PRNewswire/ — BASEL, SWITZERLAND — Huntsman Corporation today announced that its Textiles Effects business has signed an agreement to acquire DuPont’s global fluorochemical business for the nonwovens industry. The DuPont(TM) Zonyl(R) fluorochemical product line is used on nonwovens as effective repellents for water, alcohol, and oil based fluids. Nonwoven textiles are primarily used in medical, filtration, automotive, and construction applications.

Following a brief transition period to ensure a smooth handover and uninterrupted supply, Huntsman will assume responsibility for all future activities related to the business. The transaction with DuPont includes a long-term supply agreement for finished products and intermediates, but does not include the transfer of DuPont employees or the sale of DuPont manufacturing assets. The parties also entered into a joint development agreement to bring new innovations to the nonwovens marketplace.

“We are delighted with this transaction, as we believe that DuPont’s technology and product stewardship, with its focus on sustainability, will significantly enhance our product offering in the technical textile market, which is strategically important for our Textile Effects business,” says Paul Hulme, president of Huntsman’s Materials and Effects division. “The addition of this product line will further strengthen our ability to provide innovative products and complementary effects in the nonwovens segment.”

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Huntsman is a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals. Its operating companies manufacture products for a variety of global industries, including chemicals, plastics, automotive, aviation, textiles, footwear, paints and coatings, construction, technology, agriculture, health care, detergent, personal care, furniture, appliances and packaging. Originally known for pioneering innovations in packaging and, later, for rapid and integrated growth in petrochemicals, Huntsman today has 14,000 employees and over 75 operations in 24 countries. The company had 2006 revenues from all operations of over $13 billion.

DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.

Source: Huntsman Corporation

Contact:
Guy Wolff, for Huntsman Corporation
Tel: +41-61-966-4146
Web site: http://www.huntsman.com/

July 24, 2007 — /PRWEB/ — SAN JOSE, CA — Modern distributed control systems (DCS) are distinguished by their model-based, business-centric approach that focuses on shared computing and unified work processes. These systems can be easily incorporated into field-level programmable logic control (PLC) systems, manufacturing execution systems (MES), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to form a single unified entity. The power sector is the largest end-use segment for DCS, accounting for a major portion of revenues. The market is all set to flourish in the pharmaceutical industry, fueled by the use of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) requiring automation systems for food processing and drug formulations. Increasing usage of DCS leads to improved process quality that significantly reduces life cycle costs and downtime costs. Previously, most DCS sales comprised new installations in heavy process industries such as petrochemicals, pulp and paper, refineries, and power. However, due to decreasing capital spending in some parts of the world and focus on utilizing existing systems to the maximum capability, end users are opting for replacement applications. Currently, replacement products account for the highest sales in the DCS market.

The United States represents the largest distributed control systems market worldwide, worth an estimated US$3.4 billion in 2007, as stated in a recent report published by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Europe and Asia are the second and third largest markets, respectively. Collectively, Europe, Asia, and the U.S. account for nearly 75 percent of the global share. The global and regional markets are expected to grow at CAGRs ranging between 2 percent and 7 percent through 2010. Asia is set to emerge as the fastest growing regional market, with growth stemming from new capital projects, plant capacity expansions, infrastructure development, and growing technological importance. In terms of end-use industries, distributed control systems in the power sector are projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.3 percent through 2010. The market for DCS in the oil and gas industry is expected to reach US$2.3 billion by 2010.

The global marketplace is concentrated and dominated by large multinational companies. Market participants include ABB Ltd, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, CAE, Control Systems International, Emerson Process Management, Encorp, GE Energy, GE Fanuc Automation Europe S.A., Gensym Corp, Honeywell Process Solutions, Invensys Plc, Lighting Control & Design, Metso Corp, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Omron Corp, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric SA, Siemens Energy & Automation, Toshiba International Corp, Yamatake Corp, Yokogawa Electric Corp, and others.

“Distributed Control Systems: A Global Strategic Business Report”, published by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. provides a comprehensive review of market trends and issues, factors driving market growth, industry challenges, product profile, players, competitive landscape, end-use overview, latest product introductions, recent developments, mergers, acquisitions, alliances, and other strategic industry activities. Analysis is presented for major geographic markets such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and rest of the world. Value analytics are provided in terms of end-use segments including pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, power, oil and gas, chemical, and Others.

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (GIA) is a publisher of off-the-shelf market research. Founded in 1987, the company is globally recognized as one of the world’s largest market research publishers. The company employs over 700 people worldwide and publishes more than 880 full-scale research reports each year. Additionally, the company also offers a range of over 60,000 smaller research products including company reports, market trend reports, and industry reports encompassing all major industries worldwide.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
Tel: 408-528-9966
Fax: 408-528-9977
Web site: http://www.StrategyR.com/

Proprietary technology is an important new tool for improving cleaning and sanitation programs in food service and manufacturing facilities

July 24, 2007 — /PRNewswire/ — NEWARK, DE — Strategic Diagnostics Inc., a leading provider of biotechnology-based detection solutions for a broad range of food, water, agricultural, environmental, and life science applications, today announced the expansion of its product line to include hygiene monitoring, with the exclusive distribution of the Lumitester(R)PD- 10N/LuciPac(TM)W system from Kikkoman in the U.S. marketplace.

The Lumitester(R)PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system is a unique patented platform with a proprietary enzymatic recycling technology that enables detection of both AMP and ATP. It offers significant advantages over other hygiene monitoring systems on the market, which, due to the unstable nature of ATP, may not give a true indication of cleaning efficiencies. AMP is a stable, persistent molecule with the ability to give users a more precise, reproducible indication of the effectiveness of both cleaning and sanitation programs.

“Thorough cleaning of food preparation surfaces is the first line of defense against inadvertent contamination,” comments Dr. Orla Cloak, SDI’s market development manager for food safety. “Leaving even small amounts of biological material on food preparation surfaces can harbor bacteria, increase the rate of bacterial growth, and increase the amount of cleaning chemical required to remedy the situation. There is great return on investment from a superior hygiene testing product.”

Strategic Diagnostics’ Lumitester(R)PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system possesses several key advantages over competitive methods, including:

• SDI’s test provides extremely accurate results even when only a small amount of residual biological material is present. This allows the user to take action to produce cleaner surfaces at a lower cost when appropriate cleaning methods are applied. Clean surfaces stay cleaner longer, cost less to maintain, and reduce the risk of inadvertent pathogen contamination.
• The patented reagents are detergent tolerant, another distinguishable advantage over competitive methods. The Lumitester(R)PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system sees residual biological material competitive methods can miss when cleaning chemicals interfere with the sample detection.

Matthew Knight, president and CEO of SDI, adds, “The Lumitester(R)PD- 10N/LuciPac(TM)W system further solidifies SDI’s commitment to providing the food market with complete solutions for their testing needs. The system complements SDI’s RapidChek(R) product line by further impacting our ability to enhance overall microbiological control and the performance of our customer’s HACCP programs. As is the case with all SDI technologies, we are focused on providing a highly differentiated technical solution that delivers outstanding financial performance to the customer.”

Rapid sanitation testing using ATP methods has grown in acceptance as a practical way to monitor the hygienic status of food production lines and food service surfaces, as well as to evaluate sanitation procedures. The Lumitester(R)PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system will add additional value by allowing users to better assess both cleanliness and sanitation in their facilities. In addition to the food market, hygiene monitoring is conducted in the personal care, beverage, and environmental industries and it is estimated that about 12 million tests are currently conducted in the U.S. on an annual basis with an average expected growth rate in testing of about 5% per year.

About Strategic Diagnostics Inc.
Strategic Diagnostics Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets biotechnology-based detection solutions to a diverse customer base, across multiple industrial and human health markets. By applying its core competency of creating custom antibodies to assay development, the company produces unique, sophisticated diagnostic testing and reagent systems that are responsive to customer diagnostic and information needs. Customers benefit with quantifiable “return on investment” by reducing time, labor, and/or material costs. All this is accomplished while increasing accuracy, reliability and actionability of essential test results. The company is focused on sustaining this competitive advantage by leveraging its expertise in immunology, proteomics, bioluminescence, and other bioreactive technologies to continue its successful customer-focused research and development efforts. Recent innovations in high throughput production of antibodies from genetic antigens will complement the company’s established leadership in commercial and custom antibody production for the research, human/animal diagnostics, and pharmaceutical industries, and position the company for broader participation in the pharmacogenomics market.

Contact:
Stan Fronczskowski
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: 302-456-6789
www.sdix.com

Source: Strategic Diagnostics Inc.

July 23, 2007 — ROLLING MEADOWS, IL — International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard 14644-6 Cleanrooms and controlled environments