Celebrating 75 years in centrifugation, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences announces contest to find the company’s oldest centrifuge

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences has announced a series of events to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Highlights include the launch of the Allegra V-15R Benchtop Centrifuge, along with the industry’s highest-volume vertical rotor – the VTi 50.1 – and a contest to find the oldest centrifuge produced by the company.

The company’s first centrifuge model, the Spinco Model E, revolutionized the industry when it hit the market in 1947, and was a critical component of the Meselson-Stahle Experiment.1 That 1958 project invented the density gradient technique, which is a fundamental pillar of biology and semiconservative replication of DNA.2 The Meselson-Stahle Experiment, which earned a Nobel Prize, successfully demonstrated that DNA strands are synthesized to match when separated.

“Creating instruments and solutions that provide these breakthrough moments is what drives us every day at Beckman Coulter Life Sciences,” said Walter Mitchell, Director of Product Management for Centrifugation. “We’re humbled and gratified knowing we’ve helped labs around the world accelerate answers. While we have enjoyed looking back at our progress, we’re aggressively focused on our future to ensure we’re exceeding customer expectations for the next 75 years and beyond -- with innovative products that continue to reduce manual and often error-prone steps in laboratory workflows.”

The evolution of the company’s legacy in centrifugation continues with the Allegra V-15R Benchtop Centrifuge. Featuring 10 rotor configurations and 50 programmable runs, along with a comprehensive selection of adapters, this recently launched instrument can perform a variety of workflows and applications – from cell and blood separation to high-throughput screening. Achieving a gravitational force of up to 20,412 x g and speeds up to 13,500 rpm, the Allegra V-15R is still a quiet companion in the lab, registering ≤55 dBA at max speed. It’s also up to 28% smaller than comparable models.

The company also just launched the highest-volume vertical rotor on the market: the VTi 50.1, featuring a volume capacity of 468 mL and the ability to hold 12 tubes of up to 39 mL each. With the shortest pathlength, vertical rotors are the best option for self-forming density gradient separations, as they provide higher resolution and can achieve it in up to half the time of other rotor types. The VTi 50.1 vertical rotor can reach a maximum speed of 50,000 RPM and is designed for use in Optima Series ultracentrifuges.

The company’s diamond year celebration also includes a campaign to find its oldest centrifuge that’s still in use. From now until June 30, 2022, customers in the United States are eligible to submit information to enter the contest. One winner will be chosen and will receive a 50% discount off the purchase price, up to $50,000, of new centrifugal hardware. Registrants must submit the serial number of their workhorse centrifuge to be eligible. Complete contest information, including terms and conditions, can be found at becls.co/3LkZIhS.

Centrifuges have been in use commercially since the mid-1800s, with the invention of a machine to separate milk and cream for the dairy industry. In 1942, Edward Pickels invented the first electrically driven vacuum centrifuge and founded Spinco, later purchased by the former Beckman Instruments, which continues the legacy and commitment to quality and innovation of Beckman Coulter Life Sciences today.

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