Merck Partners with Opentrons Labworks, Inc., supporting Lab of the Future
Merck, a leading science and technology company, and Opentrons Labworks, Inc., a leader in lab automation and accessible robotics, announced a multi-year agreement to automate assay kits on a custom Opentrons Flex® workstation.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250123723506/en/
Custom Opentrons Flex® workstation available mid-2025 (Photo: Business Wire)
Scientists and engineers will collaborate to develop and verify platform workflows utilizing Merck’s broad offering of automation-enabled assays. Together, the custom workstation and automation-enabled assays will deliver increased consistency and higher throughput by reducing manual processing and repetitive tasks with a user-friendly robotic system.
“Our customers are prioritizing tools and technologies that improve reproducibility and productivity, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks that take their science further, faster,” said Jean-Charles Wirth, Head of Science & Lab Solutions for the Life Science business of Merck. “Our partnership with Opentrons reinforces our focus to automate and digitalize the lab - supporting scientists at all stages with tools that can increase efficiency, safety, and success rates of delivering new potential therapeutics.”
Customers can place orders for workstations and assay kits from Merck starting mid-2025. Applications will include broad workflows across protein sample preparation, molecular, cell, and other biochemical and chemistry workflows launching throughout the length of the agreement.
“Part of our commitment to making lab automation as accessible as possible is finding partners who share a similar vision,” said Jonathan Brennan-Badal, CEO of Opentrons. “Merck Life Science is a proven leader in terms of the breadth and quality of products they offer for pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, and we’re excited to combine that with our ability to provide world-class automation, service and support.”
By combining the automation expertise and service excellence of Opentrons with the powerful R&D, supply chain, and quality systems of Merck we will deliver reliable products streamlining research from sample prep to analysis for immunodetection, protein research, enzyme technology, genome editing, omics research, pharmaceutical development, service and testing and cell culture.
This adds to Merck’s existing Biology innovations to increase Life Science lab productivity, like the Millicell® DCI Digital Cell Imager that allows for accelerated cell culture analysis with an intuitive interface while also adding to the company’s commitment to provide next-generation biology solutions such as their recent acquisition of HUB Organoids Holding B.V.
About Merck
Merck, a leading science and technology company, operates across life science, healthcare and electronics. Around 63,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people’s lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From providing products and services that accelerate drug development and manufacturing as well as discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2023, Merck generated sales of € 21 billion in 65 countries.
Scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to Merck’s technological and scientific advances. This is how Merck has thrived since its founding in 1668. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. Merck holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck operate as MilliporeSigma in life science, EMD Serono in healthcare, and EMD Electronics in electronics.
About Opentrons
Opentrons Labworks, Inc., a disruptive life science company and the current market leader in entry-level lab automation, accelerates innovation in research and healthcare through its integrated lab platform, which includes business units Opentrons® Robotics and Neochromosome™. Opentrons has raised over $200 million in funding and achieved unicorn status based on its innovative technologies. The Opentrons Flex® is Opentrons’ newest generation of liquid-handling lab robots, offering open-source accessibility and compatibility with generative AI tools. Opentrons Robotics provides thousands of institutions with flexible, easy-to-use lab robots, automating R&D operations and making robotics, a vast open-source library accessible to life sciences researchers worldwide. Opentrons is used in labs at the top 20 academic universities in the US and 14 of 15 leading global biopharmaceutical companies. Learn more at https://opentrons.com/.
All Merck press releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the Merck website. Please go to www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250123723506/en/
Contacts
Media Relations
rachel.bloom-baglin@merckgroup.com
Phone: +49 (6151) 72-44461
(c) 2024 Business Wire, Inc., All rights reserved.
Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is the global leader in multiplatform press release distribution.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Civil Air Patrol Expands Fleet With 15 New Cessna Aircraft to Support Lifesaving and Community Missions15.12.2025 17:00:00 CET | Press Release
Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced today that Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the world’s largest operator of Cessna aircraft, is strengthening its national mission capabilities with an order for 15 additional piston-engine aircraft, including seven Cessna Skyhawk 172 and eight Cessna Skylane 182 models scheduled for delivery throughout 2026. The order follows recent deliveries of an additional two Cessna Skylane and one Cessna Turbo Stationair HD aircraft, expanding CAP’s fleet to more than 500 Cessna aircraft nationwide. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251215613573/en/ Delivery of an additional two Cessna Skylane and one Cessna Turbo Stationair HD aircraft joins CAP’s fleet of more than 500 Cessna aircraft nationwide. Cessna aircraft are designed and produced by Textron Aviation. “Civil Air Patrol’s missions demand aircraft that are reliable, versatile and ready to perform in critic
Winston & Strawn and Taylor Wessing UK to Combine, Creating a Premier Transatlantic Law Firm15.12.2025 16:52:00 CET | Press Release
Winston & Strawn and Taylor Wessing’s UK-led business announced today their intention to combine, creating a premier transatlantic law firm that would operate under a new shared name, Winston Taylor. The combination responds to increasing client demand for seamlessly integrated US–UK–EU counsel for the businesses, people, and markets driving capital and innovation. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251215914957/en/ The combination once final will unite two international firms with more than 400 years of combined history, complementary strengths, and a common vision to meet clients’ evolving global needs. The combined firm will include more than 1,400 lawyers, establishing one of the largest transatlantic firms whose footprint is primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, and also in Latin America and the Middle East. Leveraging significant strength and scale in major litigation, critical tra
Despite Barriers, Financial Institutions are Clear About AI's Greatest Impact15.12.2025 16:32:00 CET | Press Release
HTEC, a global AI-first provider of software and hardware design and engineering services, today released The State of AI in Financial Services & Insurance 2025, a first industry subset of its global research report in AI. This publication offers one of the clearest views to date into how financial institutions are adopting and scaling artificial intelligence. This industry-focused report analyzes insights from 250 C-suite leaders within financial services and insurance, drawn from HTEC’s broader global study of 1,529 C-suite executives—including CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, CPOs, CFOs, COOs, CEOs and CSOs—across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Spain. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251215790717/en/ Executive Summary: The State of AI in Financial Services and Insurance 2025 The findings confirm a decisive shift in the industry: not a single respondent said AI is not a priority. L
Align Partners Sends Second Public Shareholder Letter to Coway, Urging Announcement of Revised Value-up Plan by January 30, 202615.12.2025 15:54:00 CET | Press Release
Align Partners Capital Management Inc. (“Align Partners”), a shareholder of Coway Co., Ltd. (“Coway”) since 2023 holding more than 4% of the Company’s outstanding shares through funds it manages or advises, announced that it has sent a second public shareholder letter to Coway’s Board of Directors. The letter calls for measures to address the company’s chronic undervaluation and enhance shareholder value. Align Partners has requested that Coway announce a revised corporate Value-up Plan reflecting these proposals by January 30, 2026. In the letter, Align Partners assessed Coway’s February 2025 plan as insufficient to address Coway’s persistent undervaluation and urged the Board to incorporate seven measures: (1) clear mid-to-long-term valuation and ROE targets with execution plans; (2) clarified and strengthened target capital structure policy; (3) updated shareholder return policy reflecting both the target capital structure policy and new dividend income tax separation regime; (4) en
Marathon Asset Management Provides Junior Capital Financing to EXALTA Group15.12.2025 15:00:00 CET | Press Release
Marathon Asset Management (“Marathon”), a leading global credit manager with more than $24 billion of assets under management, is pleased to announce the closing of a junior capital financing to EXALTA Group (“EXALTA” or the “Company”), a portfolio company of Montagu. Marathon led the financing that supported the formation of EXALTA through the strategic merger of three Montagu-owned companies including Intech, Resolve Surgical Technologies, and Tyber Medical. The transaction marks one of many successful transactions for Marathon’s European Credit business in the healthcare sector, where the firm has a knowledge-based advantage with a dedicated Healthcare Finance business and specialized medical advisory board providing sector insight to middle market companies. EXALTA is a global leader in orthopaedic contract design and manufacturing for spine, trauma, extremities, sports medicine and enabling technology providing comprehensive solutions to OEMs within the medical technology industry
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom