Affymetrix
Biology for a better world
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| Public | |
| Traded as | NASDAQ: AFFX |
| Industry | Biotechnology |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Headquarters |
Santa Clara, California, U.S. High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, UK Tokyo, Japan Shanghai, China |
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Number of locations
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11 |
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Key people
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Stephen Fodor Frank Witney (CEO) |
| Revenue |
 US$327 Million (FY 2009)
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 US$-30.6 Million (FY 2009)
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US$-23.9 Million (FY 2009)
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| Total assets |
US$612 Million (FY 2009)
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| Total equity |
US$288 Million (FY 2009)
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Number of employees
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1,141 |
| Website | www.affymetrix.com |
Affymetrix, Inc. is an American company that manufactures DNA microarrays; it is based in Santa Clara, California, United States. The company was founded by Dr. Stephen Fodor in 1992. It began as a unit in Affymax N.V. in 1991 by Fodor's group, which had in the late 1980s developed methods for fabricating DNA microarrays, called "GeneChip" according to the Affymetrix trademark, using semiconductor manufacturing techniques. The company's first product, an HIV genotyping GeneChip, was introduced in 1994 and the company went public in 1996. As a result of its pioneering work and the ensuing popularity of microarray products, Affymetrix derives significant benefit from its patent portfolio in this area.
Affymetrix has taken over Genetic MicroSystems for slide-based microarrays and scanners, Neomorphic for bioinformatics, ParAllele Bioscience for custom SNP genotyping, USB/Anatrace for biochemical reagents, eBioscience for flow cytometry, and Panomics and True Materials to expand its offering of low to mid-plex applications. In 2000, Perlegen Sciences spun out from Affymetrix to focus on wafer-scale genomics for massive data creation and collection required for characterizing population variance of genomic markers and expression for the drug discovery process.
Thermo Fisher Scientific announced on January 8, 2016 the acquisition of Affymetrix for approximately $1.3 billion. The acquisition is anticipated to close in the second quarter of 2016. The acquisition will enhance their diagnostic equipment offerings and lead to 10s of millions of dollars in savings in the first few years after completion of the deal.
Affymetrix makes quartz chips for analysis of DNA Microarrays called GeneChip arrays. Affymetrix's GeneChip arrays assist researchers in quickly scanning for the presence of particular genes in a biological sample. Within this area, Affymetrix is focused on oligonucleotide microarrays. These microarrays are used to determine which genes exist in a sample by detecting specific pieces of mRNA. A single chip can be used to analyze thousands of genes in one assay. Chips can be used only once.
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Wikipedia