Eppendorf, a company with its registered office in Germany, develops, produces and sells products and services for laboratories around the world. Eppendorf products are used in academic and industrial research laboratories, e.g. in companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech, chemical and food industries. They are also used in laboratories that perform clinical or environmental analysis, in forensic laboratories, and in industrial laboratories where industrial process analysis, production and quality assurance are performed. Eppendorf describes its business as consisting of three divisions: liquid handling, cell handling, and sample handling.

Products

Eppendorf develops, produces and sells devices,

consumables Consumables (also known as consumable goods, non-durable goods, or soft goods) are goods that are intended to be consumed. People have, for example, always consumed food and water. Consumables are in contrast to durable goods. Disposable produc ...

and services for laboratories. The liquid handling line includes products such as manual and electronic

micropipette A pipette (sometimes spelled as pipett) is a laboratory tool commonly used in chemistry, biology and medicine to transport a measured volume of liquid, often as a media dispenser. Pipettes come in several designs for various purposes with diffe ...

s, automated pipetting systems, and milliliter pipette controllers. The cell handling line includes products such as fermenters and

bioreactor A bioreactor refers to any manufactured device or system that supports a biologically active environment. In one case, a bioreactor is a vessel in which a chemical reaction, chemical process is carried out which involves organisms or biochemistry, ...

s and

cell culture Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. The term "tissue culture" was coined by American pathologist Montrose Thomas Burrows. This te ...

supplies. The sample handling line includes products such as

centrifuges A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby separating fluids of different densities (e.g. cream from milk) or l ...

and related accessories, PCR equipment, laboratory freezers, and reagent tubes.

History

Eppendorf was founded in 1945 by Heinrich Netheler and Hans Hinz in the

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

district of Eppendorf on the grounds of the University Hospital Eppendorf, originally as a workshop for medical devices. Dr Netheler and Dr Hinz developed the first ultrasound device and the stimulator, a machine used for diagnosing and therapeutically treating muscle and nerve damage. They also invented an electrical thermometer (the “Thermorapid”) that, for the first time, enabled body temperature to be measured in just a few seconds. In 1954, the company was renamed "Netheler & Hinz GmbH". In 2000, Eppendorf Gerätebau, Netheler und Hinz GmbH was renamed Eppendorf AG and became a public company. In 1961, Eppendorf launched the microliter

pipette A pipette (sometimes spelled as pipett) is a laboratory tool commonly used in chemistry, biology and medicine to transport a measured volume of liquid, often as a media dispenser. Pipettes come in several designs for various purposes with diffe ...

system. This allowed precise measurement of liquids. The first microcentrifuge was sold in 1962. In 1965, the company moved to a facility at the Barkhausenweg in the Hamburg district of

Hummelsbüttel Hummelsbüttel () is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany in the Wandsbek borough. Geography Hummelsbüttel borders the quarters Poppenbüttel and Wellingsbüttel, as well as the quarters Langenhorn, Fuhlsbüttel is an urban quarter in the north o ...

, where Eppendorf has been headquartered ever since. Since December 2019, Eva van Pelt and Peter Fruhstorfer lead the Eppendorf Group as Co-CEOs. They follow Thomas Bachmann, who took over as Chairman in 2015 from Dirk Ehlers. In 2011, Ehlers had replaced Klaus Fink, who had been Chairman of the Executive Board for many years, who then took over as Chairman of the Supervisory Board until 2016. Philipp von Loeper has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Eppendorf AG since 2016. Eppendorf sponsors awards for investigators which are awarded through

Science Magazine ''Science'', also widely referred to as ''Science Magazine'', is the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and one of the world's top academic journals. It was first published in 1880, ...

Acquisitions

In 2007, Eppendorf took over New Brunswick Scientific Co., an American company headquartered in

Edison, New Jersey Edison is a township located in Middlesex County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan Valley region, Edison is a commercial hub, home to Menlo Park Mall and Little India. It is ...

. In January 2012, Eppendorf acquired DASGIP, a mid-sized German company headquartered in

Jülich Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', nl, Gulik, french: Juliers, Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region betwe ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

that manufactured parallel bioreactor systems. Eppendorf acquired Calibration Technology Ltd, headquartered in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, in November 2016 in order to expand its service presence into Ireland.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Manufacturing companies established in 1945 Research support companies Manufacturing companies based in Hamburg German companies established in 1945