Bruker BioSpin wins $20m order

Bruker BioSpin, a unit of Bruker Corp. of Billerica, said it has received an order from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology for 10 nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers valued at close to $20 million

The order includes a two-story, eight-ton magnet, added Bruker BioSpin, whose parent, Bruker, provides equipment and instruments to the life sciences and technology industries.

The large magnet, which will be surrounded by spectrometers, "will allow scientists to investigate the structure of bio-molecules and study their interactions with greater resolution and sensitivity than ever before," Bruker BioSpin said in a press release.

On its website, the university said: "King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is being built in Saudi Arabia as an international, graduate-level research university dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the Kingdom that will also benefit the region and the world. KAUST is the realization of a decades-long vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud."

(The image accompanying this story was taken from the university's website.)

Bruker BioSpin's press release added that the installation of the nuclear magnetic resonance systems is "expected to begin in 2009 and to continue into 2010, with many of them targeted to be operational for the planned opening of KAUST in September 2009."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)