FOSTER CITY, Calif.--PE Biosystems announced that, less than a year after shipping its first ABI Prism 3700 DNA Analyzer, it has shipped number 1,000.
The company said most of its production-scale systems are being used for whole-genome sequencing, but added that they are also being adopted for use in food safety, drug target discovery, DNA forensic typing, environmental analysis, and clinical diagnosis. More than 250 laboratories worldwide have installed the machines, the company claimed.
The US Department of Agriculture, which has already installed several of the machines at sites across the country, was PE's 1,000th customer. Floyd Horn, USDA's Agricultural Research Service administrator, said the instruments are enabling the agency to "make a quantum leap into genomics" and to heighten its efforts to ensure food supply safety.
PE Biosystems also announced that Deborah Smeltzer, 46, formerly chief scientific officer at genomics company Genset in Paris, took the position of vice-president for finance at PE Biosystems on November 15.