Roche Applied Science was a global business entity in the biotechnology sector that produces reagents and systems for life sciences research, with an emphasis on

molecular genetics Molecular genetics is a sub-field of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the ...

and

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

research needs.

Scope of business

Roche Applied Science produced reagents and systems for related to DNA sequencing, microarrays, gene expression, and cell analysis. Important fields of application of the company's products are the

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

areas of the

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

and

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

industries. The company also offers reagents and systems for the pharmaceuticals and diagnostics industries.

Locations

The company's headquarters was in Penzberg in

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat ...

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 betwee ...

; other main sites are

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

, Germany,

Rotkreuz Risch is a municipality in the canton of Zug in Switzerland. It is also promoted as Risch-Rotkreuz. Four villages (Rotkreuz, Risch, Buonas and Holzhäusern) belong to the municipality ''Risch''. On 24 November 2007 it was decided to promote the ...

in Switzerland,

Madison, WI Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-larg ...

Pleasanton, CA Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the Amador Valley, it is a suburb in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 79,871 at the 2020 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ...

, and

Branford, CT Branford is a shoreline town located on Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut, about east of downtown New Haven. The population was 28,273 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

History

Roche Applied Science was founded in 1859 as Boehringer Mannheim, a developer of rare chemicals and pharmaceuticals. In the 1950s, the bioreagents product line was developed according to the company’s own needs in diagnostics research. They were the first commercially important producer of

restriction enzymes A restriction enzyme, restriction endonuclease, REase, ENase or'' restrictase '' is an enzyme that cleaves DNA into fragments at or near specific recognition sites within molecules known as restriction sites. Restriction enzymes are one class ...

, they were the first supplier of

Klenow The Klenow fragment is a large protein fragment produced when DNA polymerase I from ''E. coli'' is enzymatically cleaved by the protease subtilisin. First reported in 1970, it retains the 5' → 3' polymerase activity and the 3’ → 5’ exonu ...

enzyme for

Sanger sequencing Sanger sequencing is a method of DNA sequencing that involves electrophoresis and is based on the random incorporation of chain-terminating dideoxynucleotides by DNA polymerase during in vitro DNA replication. After first being developed by Fred ...

, and they are the only supplier of a system for the non-radioactive labeling of

nucleic acid Nucleic acids are biopolymers, macromolecules, essential to all known forms of life. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main ...

Instrument development

As of 2011, Roche Applied Science's instrumentation products included

genome sequencing Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing, complete genome sequencing, or entire genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entirety, or nearly the entirety, of the DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a ...

platforms, an instrument to perform automated

polymerase chain reaction The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies (complete or partial) of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it (or a part of it) ...

s (PCR) and product analyses, and a system for real-time, label-free cellular analysis for use in cell invasion/migration studies. Roche has a history of both developing new technologies, and licensing them from other companies.

Restructuring

In the second quarter of 2013, Roche announced plans to integrate the products of the Applied Science business area within the Molecular and Professional Diagnostics business areas. Genome sequencing, formerly a part of the Applied Science portfolio, was moved into Molecular Diagnostics division. In 2013 impairment charges for goodwill and intangible assets of 35 million Swiss francs and 12 million Swiss francs were incurred for the Applied Science restructuring.

References