LS Instruments joins Postnova Analytics while keeping its operations in Fribourg

LS Instruments, a Fribourg-based maker of advanced light scattering and microrheology instruments, has been acquired by Germany’s Postnova Analytics, with operations, manufacturing and the existing team remaining at its Fribourg headquarters.

German company Postnova Analytics has completed the acquisition of LS Instruments. Operations will continue unchanged from the company’s headquarters in Fribourg, where the existing team will remain focused on developing, manufacturing and supporting its light scattering and microrheology technologies. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

LS Instruments supplies analytical instruments that use light scattering for particle characterization and microrheology, serving customers in academia, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food, cosmetics and advanced materials. Its product range includes the LS Spectrometer II, the DWS RheoLab and the NanoLab 3D, which Postnova describes as a complement to its own portfolio, extending it from fractionated, component-resolved analysis to the characterization of intact, native samples.

The company’s technology has its roots in research carried out at ETH Zurich and the University of Fribourg. Founded by physicists Peter Schurtenberger and Frank Scheffold, LS Instruments emerged from work on soft materials and on the limitations of existing light scattering methods for studying concentrated samples, leading to robust characterization of turbid and highly concentrated samples. Innovations such as Echo DWS in the DWS RheoLab and modulated 3D cross-correlation in the LS Spectrometer and NanoLab 3D have since been patented.

Established as a Swiss public limited company in 2010, LS Instruments has built a clientele across 34 countries. Under Postnova, its instruments are to be integrated into the group’s global commercial, technical support and application-development capabilities.