Navitar has announced a licensing agreement with German optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss MicroImaging. Under the terms of the contract, Carl Zeiss will license Navitar's Hoffman Modulation Contrast (HMC) trademark for use in their iHMC product line. Zeiss will manufacture objectives, modulators, slit apertures, and condensers using the HMC technology, and distribute and sell them under the iHMC name.
Hoffman Modulation Contrast technology, originally developed and patented by Dr Robert Hoffman, is a widely used light microscopy contrast method for viewing colourless and transparent biological specimens. Navitar is the sole owner of the HMC trademark due to its recent acquisition of assets of Modulation Optics, located in Glen Cove, New York. Prior to the acquisition by Navitar, Modulation Optics partnered with Research Instruments (RI) of the United Kingdom, to combine the imaging capabilities of HMC technology with RI's instruments for Intracytoplasmic Morphologically-selected Sperm Injection (IMSI) in the development of the optics for RI IMSI.
'Zeiss' licensing of the Hoffman Modulation Contrast mark reinforces the importance of this brand to the fields of biotechnology and medical research,' remarked Julian Goldstein, co-president of Navitar. 'Navitar is pleased to partner with such a major player in the world of optics.'
Carl Zeiss MicroImaging is a subsidiary of Carl Zeiss AG, and manufactures microscope systems for biomedical research and the healthcare and high-tech sectors.
