TAP Launches New Custom Automation Division on Stand 116 at SBS 2009

The Automation Partnership (TAP), a world leading supplier of innovative automation for life science applications today introduced on Stand 116 at the SBS in Lille, France its Advanced Projects Group, a new division within TAP which will work with biotech and academic customers to deliver customised automation to better enable bench-based research and process development.

Over the last decade TAP has developed a range of standard cell culture and screening products which address bottlenecks in life science research. The new Advanced Projects Group brings together TAP’s specialist engineers, software designers and biologists, offering services to analyse customers’ bottlenecks in the research or manufacturing of a biological therapy and subsequently provide one-off custom automation solutions. The Advanced Projects Group will also work with technology providers to bring their technology to market.

Nick Cooke, TAP’s COO and head of the Advanced Projects Group explained: ”Historically, we have been asked to customise TAP’s standard products for a particular customer’s application. We are now increasingly being approached to produce completely novel automation systems to bring about a step change in biological manufacturing and research processes. With TAP’s many years of experience in solving the engineering challenges associated with handling biological materials and processes, we are pleased to offer enhanced access to our expertise with the launch of our new Advanced Projects Group.”

David Newble, TAP’s CEO concluded: ”With the increased investment in biologics and the emergence of stem cell based therapies and development tools we expect an increasing emphasis on reliable, consistent scale up of processes in these fields. Twenty years applying automation to cell culture and processing problems has provided TAP with an excellent insight into what can be achieved. We encourage researchers with bottlenecks in their biological processes, or technology providers who are looking to design a system to bring to market, to visit us on Stand 116 to discuss how working with the Advanced Projects Group could make a vital contribution to meeting their objectives.”