iCyt evolved from the custom engineering and design practice of our founder Gary Durack. The company was formed in 1995 under the name Cytometry Services Inc (CSI). In 2000 CSI took on an instrument development project for a major flow cytometry company and moved into a small facility in the Technology Commercialization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. There CSI hired its first full-time employees.
The company expanded rapidly from 2001 to 2005 as it developed various hardware and software solutions for major flow cytometry companies, designed and built custom industrial cell sorters, and marketed replacement laser systems. In 2002, CSI changed its name to iCyt Mission Technology, Inc. and relocated to the University of Illinois Research Park. By 2004, the company had expanded its facilities to 9,000 square feet and employed over 30 professionals in engineering, life science, and business disciplines.
In 2005, iCyt took a major step forward, moving into the iCyt Building. The company continues to grow into their state-of-the-art 43,000 square foot facility; now employing over 60 people, including field sales and technical support teams. In 2007 iCyt introduced its first commercial instrument system for the flow cytometry market, the iCyt Reflection Cell Sorter, bringing the speed and efficiency of highly automated parallel sorting (HAPS) to laboratories around the world.
In February 2010, iCyt was acquired by Sony Corporation (Sony). As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), iCyt is now able to leverage Sony’s global resources to continue to develop and deliver innovative solutions to the cell analysis market.
By combining Sony’s engineering and manufacturing expertise with the technological assets of iCyt, the acquisition is accelerating iCyt’s development of next-generation cell analysis systems. Through the application of Sony’s core optic and data transmission technologies, iCyt is positioned to introduce unique advances in flow cytometry, and realize our plans for delivering innovative products to research and clinical laboratories around the world.
