Private company

Molecular Devices

Logo: Aswarup, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

American bioanalysis corporation

Molecular Devices is an American company that supplies bioanalytical measurement devices and systems for drug discovery and other life sciences research. The company has been a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation since 2010.2 It employed 815 people in 2023.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1983Founded1

Molecular Devices is an American company that supplies bioanalytical measurement devices and systems for drug discovery and other life sciences research. The company has been a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation since 2010.2

Corporate structure

Molecular Devices is part of a group headed by Danaher Corporation. 145 entities, 28 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Danaher Corporation Washington, the District of Columbia, United States
    • Molecular Devices Sunnyvale
      • Molecular Devices (United Kingdom) Subsidiary · United Kingdom
    • Danaher (China) Subsidiary · Shanghai, People's Republic of China
    • Nobel Biocare Subsidiary · Kloten, Switzerland
    • Teletrac Subsidiary · Santa Ana, California, United States
    • AB Sciex Finance B.V. Subsidiary · Netherlands
    • AB Sciex LLC Subsidiary · Delaware, United States
    • Abcam Inc. Subsidiary · Massachusetts, United States
    • Abcam Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd Subsidiary · China
    • Aldevron LLC Subsidiary · North Dakota, United States
    • Aldevron Madison LLC Subsidiary · North Dakota, United States
    • BC Distribution B.V. Subsidiary · Netherlands
    • Beckman Coulter Biomedical GmbH Subsidiary · Germany
    • Beckman Coulter Biotechnology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. Subsidiary · China
    • Beckman Coulter Canada LP Subsidiary · Canada
    • Beckman Coulter Commercial Enterprise (China) Co., Ltd. Subsidiary · China
    • Beckman Coulter France S.A.S. Subsidiary · France
    • Beckman Coulter Genomics Inc. Subsidiary · Delaware, United States
    • Beckman Coulter GmbH Subsidiary · Germany
    • Beckman Coulter Hong Kong Limited Subsidiary · Hong Kong
    • BECKMAN COULTER INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED Subsidiary · Mumbai, India
    • Beckman Coulter International S.A. Subsidiary · Switzerland
    • Beckman Coulter International Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Subsidiary · China
    • Beckman Coulter Ireland Inc. Subsidiary · Ireland
    • Beckman Coulter K.K. Subsidiary · Japan
    • Beckman Coulter Korea Ltd. Subsidiary · South Korea
    • and 117 more

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries listed in Exhibit 21 of annual reports filed with the SEC; subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

Founded in 1983, Molecular Devices introduced its first microplate reader in 1987 and since then has continually broadened its solution set through a combination of internal research and development efforts as well as strategic acquisitions. In 1996 Molecular Devices acquired the FLIPR technology from NovelTech Systems Inc. of Ann Arbor Michigan and in 2000 they licensed the IonWorks high-throughput electrophysiology system from Essen Bioscience also of Ann Arbor Michigan.

Molecular Devices then acquired Universal Imaging Corporation in 2002, Axon Instruments in 2004, and Blueshift Technologies in 2008, broadening its portfolio to include electrophysiology products, scanners and analysis software for microarrays, and workstations for cell-based screening using high-resolution imaging.

In March 2007, Molecular Devices was acquired by Canadian MDS, Inc. and became part of MDS Analytical Technologies. In 2010, MDS Inc. completed a strategic repositioning which saw the Company divest its MDS Analytical Technologies and MDS Pharma Services businesses. In February 2010, Danaher Corporation acquired MDS Analytical Technologies, and Molecular Devices, Inc. now operates within the Danaher Medical Technologies segment.

From Wikipedia’s article on Molecular Devices, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

  • plate reader

Listed on Wikidata.1

Services

Molecular Devices supplies analytical systems, including instruments, software, and reagents, to accelerate and improve drug discovery and basic life science research.

Molecular Devices is based in Silicon Valley, CA, United States, and has regional offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Korea, China, and Japan to support the global life sciences—drug discovery and basic research—communities.

Products

Microplate Readers

Microscope imagers - the ImageXpress Micro series are widefield microscope imagers that capture crystal-clear images of complex cell models.

From Wikipedia’s article on Molecular Devices, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

  • Molecular Devices (United Kingdom)

From Wikidata.1

Employees over time

  • 20238151

Timeline

  1. 1983Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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