Artel acquires software to expand its liquid handler performance verification capabilities

Artel, the leader in liquid handling quality assurance, announced today that it has acquired exclusive rights to the LabGauge product line from Louisville, Kentucky-based StackWave. The software will be used with Artel’s MVS® Multichannel Verification System to deliver increased information availability and management. The prototype technology was described in an article, “High-Throughput Quality Control of DMSO Acoustic Dispensing Using Photometric Dye Methods,” published in the Journal of Laboratory Automation (JALA) in July of 2013. The new software capabilities, which will also be integrated into Artel’s Liquid Handling Performance Verification Service, will enable customers to track and manage the performance of their automated liquid handlers over time by aggregating the standardized measurements from the MVS.

The software is built on StackWave’s proprietary application development platform. As part of the acquisition agreement, Ryan Meyer, one of StackWave’s principals, will join Artel in the position of software architect to facilitate further enhancements to the product.

“StackWave has a unique understanding of what our MVS and service customers need to manage their volume verification data and to extract valuable information from it,” explains Kirby Pilcher, Artel CEO. “Artel and StackWave have shared a vision of giving our laboratory customers improved insight into the quality and accuracy of their tools and processes.”

Artel previewed its new ArtelWare product, based on the acquired LabGauge technology, at SLAS 2014 and expects to begin shipping around the end of the first quarter.