News

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec, Canada and MILFORD, Mass. - July 26, 2010 - Phytronix Technologies Inc. and Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) announced today they are entering into a collaborative agreement to develop a very high throughput solution based on the Phytronix Laser Diode Thermal Desorption (LDTD^®) Ion Source.  The LDTD Technology combined with a Waters^® MS/MS is geared towards high throughput applications in drug discovery research, toxicology, forensics, food safety and environmental monitoring.

The LDTD Ion Source uses a "shotgun" approach to introduce a sample by a rapid laser thermal desorption process into a Waters MS/MS, ionizing it via atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI).  The source hardware is now available from Phytronix while the software drivers compatible with Waters MassLynx^TM mass spectrometry software are expected to be available by the end of September.

"Working in tandem, LDTD-Waters MS/MS, offers a full MS analysis in less than four seconds sample to sample for both quantitative and qualitative applications in high-throughput environments," said Jean Lacoursière, Phytronix's President. 

"This non-invasive ion source completely integrated with Waters Xevo^TM family of MS/MS systems provides the best of both worlds to the Waters users. The users can switch between Waters ACQUITY^® UPLC-MS/MS and LDTD-MS/MS easily for a maximum of versatility," added Steve Smith, Sr. Director - MS Product Management at the Waters Division.

Both models manufactured by Phytronix, the LDTD-W960 with 96-well plate (LazWell-96) and LDTD-W3840 with the 384-well plate (LazWell-384) are now available for Waters Xevo TQ & Xevo TQ-S high performance tandem quadrupole MS/MS systems as well as for Waters' installed base of older MS/MS instruments.

This robust and powerful combination offers exciting new high throughput capabilities to the users of Waters MS systems and allows LDTD users to take full advantage of the Xevo TQ's advanced capabilities which include the simultaneously monitoring of background information and the collection of high sensitivity product ion MS/MS spectra whilst performing quantitative MRM analysis.

About Waters Corporation (www.waters.com)

For more than 50 years, Waters Corporation has created business advantages for laboratory-dependent organizations by delivering practical and sustainable innovation to enable significant advancements in such areas as healthcare delivery, environmental management, food safety, and water quality worldwide.

Pioneering a connected portfolio of separations science, laboratory information management, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis, Waters' technology breakthroughs and laboratory solutions provide an enduring platform for customer success.

With revenue of $1.5 billion in 2009 and 5,200 employees, Waters is driving scientific discovery and operational excellence for customers worldwide.

About Phytronix Technologies, Inc.

Founded in 2000, Phytronix Technologies Inc. is a privately owned company based in Québec City, province of Québec, Canada. The company produces and markets laboratory scientific instruments and exports LDTD Ion Source around the world. Since its establishment, the company shows a growth of 20 to 50% per year.  Information about Phytronix is available on the Web at www.Phytronix.com.