GATC celebrates its 15th anniversary

Constance (October 2005) – GATC Biotech AG, located in Constance, Germany, looks back at 15 successful years. Founded in 1990 by Prof. Fritz Pohl and his three sons Thomas, Peter and Fritz, GATC has established itself as a leading European supplier of molecular biology services and innovative bioinformatic software for industry and academy.

The anniversary will be celebrated at the Biotechnica. The official celebration will take place on October 19, 4.30 pm, at the booth of the Bio-Pro Baden-Wuerttemberg GmbH, with speeches by the Managing Director, Dr. Ralf Kindervater, of Prof. Dr. Horst Domdey, Managing Director of the BioM AG and of Peter Pohl, CEO of GATC Biotech AG. There will be many anniversary promotions during the course of the show in order to celebrate extensively with trade show visitors.

The company started its business as the first sequencing company in Europe, accomodated within the University of Constance, with two employees and laboratory equipment valued at Euro 1,000. The local Byk Gulden GmbH (now Altana AG) became GATC’s first sequencing customer. During the following years GATC became well-known within Europe as a reliable sequencing partner due to its participation in numerous EU funded genome projects. To date GATC has sequenced more than 30 genomes for industry and academy.

Today 44 employees, located in the headquarters in Constance, in subsidiaries in Cambridge (UK) and Marseille (France), as well as in offices in Tägerwilen (Switzerland), Hamburg and Munich (Germany) take care of over 3000 customers in 40 countries. In 2005 six new jobs were created.

For many years GATC has cooperated with academic institutions such as the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and the Max Planck Society, Germany. Focusing on the continious enhancement of key technologies in molecular biology, GATC is supported by renowned, experienced scientists from industry (e.g. the Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Switzerland) and the academy (e.g. the Sanger Institute, UK).

GATC is privately owned by the Pohl family and GATC employees, profitable since foundation and growing solely with its generated profits.

About GATC Biotech
GATC Biotech (www.gatc-biotech.com), with headquarters in Constance, Germany, is a leading provider of molecular biological services and innovative bioinformatics solutions for industry and academia worldwide. GATC’s portfolio contains services in the areas of genomics, transcriptomics and functional analysis, complemented by a wide range of bioinformatic software, e.g. Lasergene™ (DNA sequence analysis software) by DNASTAR Inc., ERGO™ (Genome Analysis Suite) by Integrated Genomics, as well as Mutation Surveyor™/Mutation Explorer™ (DNA variant analysis software) and GeneMarker™ (Software for AFLP and genotyping) by SoftGenetics. Today, GATC has 40 employees and serves 3000 customers in 40 countries. This year GATC celebrates its 15th anniversary. Most of GATC‘s employees are scientists with long-term experience in biotechnology, molecular biology and chemistry. The company is ISO-certified since 1997.

Contact:

GATC Biotech AG
Elke Decker, Senior Director Marketing
Jakob-Stadler-Platz 7
D-78467 Konstanz, Deutschland
Tel: +49-7531-8160-30
Fax:+49-7531-8160-81
eMail: e.decker@gatc-biotech.com
Web: www.gatc-biotech.com

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