Hamilton Thorne, a provider of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), has approved a plan under which the company will be acquired by Cradle Acquisition ULC in order to take the company private. Cradle Acquisition will also acquire the ART product portfolio of Cook Medical, which it will combine with Hamilton Thorne at the close of the transaction. VIENNA — In collaboration with Bruker, a manufacturer of scientific instruments for molecular and material-based research, the University of Vienna has opened the Center of Excellence for Metaproteomics to advance microbiome research using high-resolution protein-based methods. The center will be headed by biochemist David Gómez-Varela. Bruker acquired additional proteomics assets earlier this year through a transaction with Nanostring Technologies. (From left) David Gómez-Varela, Torsten Mueller, and Ronald Maier. Courtesy of the University of Vienna/Alexander Bachmayer. SAN FRANCISCO — Cellares, a provider of cell therapy manufacturing, has partnered with Sony Corporation to jointly develop and integrate advanced flow cytometry-based cell analysis and sorting solutions in the Cellares Cell Shuttle, an automated cell therapy manufacturing platform. Sony will leverage technologies from its CGX10 Cell Isolation System to develop new solutions. Cellares expects the combination to make its Cell Shuttle the world’s first truly automated, end-to-end cell therapy manufacturing solution with cell analysis and sorting capabilities. Wolfgang Kiefer (center) received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the international ESULaB conference in Jena on Sept. 17. The laudation was given by Jürgen Popp of Leibniz-IPHT (left) and Peter Vogt of Coherent (right). Courtesy of Leibniz IPHT. JENA, Germany — Raman spectroscopy developer Wolfgang Kiefer received the Lifetime Achievement Award during the European Symposium on Ultrafast Laser driven Biophotonics (ESULaB) organized by Leibniz IPHT in cooperation with Coherent. Kiefer is a professor at the University of Wurzburg and responsible for advancements in time-resolved Raman spectroscopy, and integrating ultrashort pulse laser techniques with advanced spectroscopic methods.