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Biotechnology company wins international premium prize for two product innovations in molecular and cellular diagnostics / Award ceremony in Frankfurt on 7 February 2014

Görlitz and Münster, 28 October 2013 – The expert jury faced a real challenge: they had two days – 8 and 9 August – to select the winners of the German Design Award 2014, the international premium prize of the German Design Council, from over 1900 high-quality submissions. The high-profile judges conferred awards for top performance in 10 product and communication design categories.

Partec's CyFox® was designated a winner by the jury. This gel electrophoresis device is an all-in-one complete solution for high-sensitivity analysis of DNA/RNA. Users can display and analyse the migration velocity of the molecules in the gel in real time throughout the entire measurement process and have automatic photographs of the gel taken via an integrated camera. The data and photographic documentation can be evaluated immediately due to an integrated mini-computer but may be also transferred directly to an external PC. The jury was particularly impressed with the elegant and compact design of this smart cuboid and the extreme simplicity of the product's operation. In the jury's assessment, the system was also referred to as an "all-in-one space-saving miracle".

Furthermore, the Partec flow cytometry system CyFlow® Cube 6 was awarded a special mention. This highly innovative device can automatically analyse various cell properties of individual cells at a rate of up to 100,000 cells a minute. The Cube flow cytometers are used in immunology for example for leukaemia, lymphoma, HIV/AIDS and cancer cell diagnosis and research, in microbiology, agricultural and aquacultural sciences and in industrial applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries for example.

Partec co-founder Professor Dr. Wolfgang Göhde was responsible for developing the technology behind both product innovations and they were brought to market maturity by an in-house team including Dr. Danny Köhler, Dipl.-Ing. Tobias Henkel and Roland Göhde. Wolfgang Göhde worked closely with the designer Jens Kaschlik from the agency formfreun.de in Berlin on the exterior design of the device.

"With the German Design Award 2014, the red dot best of the best award 2013, the red dot design award 2012 and 2013, the iF design award 2013 and the Saxony State Prize for Design 2013, our latest technology platforms CyFlow and CyFox have now received several national and international awards" said Roland Göhde, President & CEO of Partec. "Both product families demonstrate a pioneering "all-in-one" innovation and a superior ergonomic design whilst meeting top performance criteria. The design prizes we have received reflect our own high standards with regard to the design and functionality of modern and innovative analytical systems."

The German Design Award ceremony will take place during the consumer goods fair Ambiente in Frankfurt on 7 February 2014.