Amnis

Amnis Corporation, founded in 1999 by David Basiji and William Ortyn, specialized in the development and manufacturing of high-speed cell imaging systems. Basiji, with a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington, served as CEO, while Ortyn acted as President. The company operated in the life sciences research and diagnostic markets, serving academic institutions as well as biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Amnis' business model centered on the sale of its proprietary instrumentation and associated software. From 2005, the company saw significant commercial traction, achieving an 80% compound annual growth rate and generating USD 14 million in sales in 2010.

Amnis' core technology, imaging flow cytometry, merges the high-speed statistical power of flow cytometry with the detailed imagery of microscopy. This is embodied in its flagship products, the ImageStream and FlowSight platforms. These instruments capture up to 12 high-resolution brightfield, darkfield, and fluorescence images of each cell as it passes through the system in a fluid stream, at rates up to 5,000 cells per second. The systems' patented camera technology provides exceptional fluorescence sensitivity, often exceeding that of traditional flow cytometers. This enables detailed quantitative analysis of cellular morphology and the sub-cellular location of fluorescent markers, which is critical for applications like studying cell-to-cell interactions, apoptosis, and nuclear translocation.

The company's trajectory includes several key acquisitions. In 2011, EMD Millipore, the life science division of Merck KGaA, acquired Amnis to enhance its cellular analysis portfolio, which already included the Guava flow cytometry line. This move provided Amnis with access to a global footprint and expanded resources. Subsequently, in late 2018, MilliporeSigma sold the Amnis and Guava portfolio to Luminex Corporation for approximately $75 million, further integrating the technology into a broader range of flow-based detection systems.

Keywords: imaging flow cytometry, cell analysis, ImageStream, FlowSight, cellular imaging, life sciences instrumentation, biotechnology research, pharmaceutical research, cell morphology, quantitative imaging, high-throughput screening, David Basiji, William Ortyn, EMD Millipore, Luminex Corporation, cell biology, microscopy, high-content screening, immunophenotyping, cell signaling analysis