Artel Brings Direct Support to Customers on the West Coast
Answering ongoing demand Artel establishes service in southern California.
Westbrook, ME (July 25, 2010) — In a bid to continue meeting the growing demand for its products and services, Artel, the worldwide leader in liquid handling quality assurance, is expanding the reach of its technical services team into the west coast with a new permanent support office based in southern California.
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Industry expert Kevin Khovananth will lead the charge as Artel’s west coast laboratory applications specialist. Bringing more than 10 years of automation experience devoted to a variety of robotic platforms and configurations, Khovananth will work directly with Artel’s Technical Services and Sales/Marketing teams and will be in direct contact with current and prospective customers, as well as with the liquid handling manufacturers whose instrumentation Artel’s systems support.
The west coast’s science hub reputation is well-deserved. According to the Southern California Biomedical Council, a trade association, the six county region of Greater Los Angeles alone is home to about 900 medtech and biotech companies, and more than 300 hospitals, clinics and medical centers.
“Our customers, many of which are based in the science hubs of the west coast, depend on Artel products and services to optimize the performance, and to ensure the quality of their liquid handling processes and instrumentation,” says Wendy Vaccaro, Technical Services Manager at Artel. “Kevin is the perfect Artel ambassador to the west coast. His vast knowledge of liquid handling platforms combined with his customer-focused drive will help us support our continued growth in clinical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, forensic, and other life sciences laboratories not only on the west coast, but across the country.”
In his new role, Khovananth will perform installations of the Artel MVS® (Multichannel Verification System) and PCS® (Pipette Calibration System), as well as offer product validation and training for customers in the field. He will also deliver product demonstrations and support product trials, and assist customers with their troubleshooting needs. Additionally, Khovananth will lead Artel Pipetting and Certification Seminars to help educate customers on the proper use of liquid handling equipment—both automated and manual.
Prior to joining Artel, Khovananth served as a scientific associate for The Scripps Research Institute, where he programmed, optimized, and initiated high-throughput sequencing and mapping efforts. Previously, he worked at Beckman Coulter, where he served as a software trainer, service engineer and applications support specialist.
“I am very excited to be joining a growing company with an innovative technology platform and a passion for quality assurance and customer support and education, says Khovananth. “This is an especially exciting time for the laboratory industry and market. Working with Artel and its customers is proving to be an extremely rewarding experience.”
About Artel
Artel is the worldwide leader in liquid handling quality assurance. Artel manufactures the most accurate, precise and easy-to-use systems for ensuring data integrity in any process requiring liquid volume measurement. Artel systems, based on proprietary Ratiometric Photometry, conform to ISO 8655-7 and provide results traceable to national and international standards to ensure reproducible data and regulatory compliance. In addition, Artel provides liquid handling quality assurance support and consultation services including on-site Pipetting Technique Training and Quality Management Certification for pipette users and laboratory managers, and Liquid Handler Performance Verification services for automated laboratories. Since 1982, Artel technology has been proven in daily use in thousands of laboratories including pharmaceutical, clinical, forensic, public health and environmental. Leading institutions such as Amgen, ARUP, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Centers for Disease Control, DuPont, Eli Lilly, FBI, Genentech, Genomic Health, Good Samaritan Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Merck, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, U.S. FDA and UCLA depends on Artel technology to help them meet their objectives for quality and productivity. For more information, contact Artel at 25 Bradley Drive, Westbrook, ME 04092; Tel: 207-854-0860; Fax: 207-854-0867; Website: www.artel-usa.com.