PHTO PART 2:
The Company is focused on the fluorescence market place. PTI believes
fluorescence is a multi-billion dollar market, enjoying substantial growth. PTI
has the ability to identify commercial and scientific applications through its
technical and design capability and to provide products which "add value" to the
end users and which are responsive to these needs. This ability is key to the
Company's success. The Company's know-how that is employed in its design and
assembly techniques results in competitive products which have high precision,
quality and lower cost.
Industry
The Company operates in what can be broadly defined as the photonics industry.
The photonics industry utilizes light for application in medical research and
testing, pharmaceutical drug development, industrial process and quality
control, and environmental, research monitoring and control. It is a relatively
new industry, having only emerged in the 1970s.
Light-based instrumentation for industry, medicine, and research is a
multi-billion dollar business. As a result, applications for photonics
instrumentation and techniques for medicine are still emerging. The Company's
industry niche utilizes fluorescence technology to measure samples in small
amounts or quantities, track movement/location, monitor chemical or physical
changes and identify or isolate the sample from the surrounding environment. In
medical research applications and drug development, this can be accomplished
without harm or destruction to the sample (i.e. cells). In all applications the
speed, sensitivity and light reaction are important for process, quality control
and monitoring.
Technology
The application of light in the fields of industry, medicine, and research falls
into many broad categories. Among these is a phenomenon called "fluorescence."
It is this phenomenon that PTI's instruments are designed to create and measure.
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When light strikes a substance, the light is absorbed and then re-emitted. If
the wavelength of light that is re-emitted is different from that which is
absorbed, then the substance is said to have fluoresced. By stimulating
fluorescence and monitoring its location and intensity, scientists can identify
the concentration and changes of substances. While not all substances fluoresce,
it is possible to create a dye (also called a probe) that will cause
non-fluorescent substances to fluoresce.
While the phenomenon of fluorescence is certainly not new, applications for the
technique are new and emerging. The recent development of fluorescent dyes has
made fluorescence the most exciting tool in the industry today. Practical
applications for new dyes and assays are being discovered almost on a daily
basis. Fluorescence is now a multi-billion dollar industry.
Fluorescence is a powerful and rapidly expanding tool for cellular and
sub-cellular testing because it is:
o more sensitive than other means of detection (about a factor of
1,000,000 times more) which means that very small, sub-cellular
amounts of substances can be detected and measured with great
accuracy.
o safer than other means of detection, because it is non-invasive (does
not physically injure the cell) and non-radioactive (avoids health and
disposal problems).
o faster than other means - it can monitor changes in trillionths of a
second, or about 1,000,000 times faster than other techniques.
o a visual process - microscopic images can be gathered and displayed,
for example, showing changes inside living cells.
o less expensive than other techniques, which means it can do more work
for less money, while saving time, resources and even lives.
Products
PTI initially developed a line of proprietary and/or patented optical building
blocks ("OBB's") which form the basis of all light based instrumentation. The
Company sells these building blocks as stand alone units. In addition PTI uses
these unique building blocks to develop its open architecture fluorescence
systems. The open architecture offers the benefits of:
o more versatile equipment - more options
o customers can buy upgrades and options as they need them or can afford
them
o less time for development of new systems - PTI can more rapidly meet
new market demands
o less chance of product obsolescence
o lower costs
PTI has many new products that it will be introducing over the next three years,
some of which are its own manufacture, some as a result of corporate parting
with other companies. PTI in light of the new product expansion, will continue
to upgrade and reorganize its product lines in order to be more effective in
marketing and sales. The two main divisions in the product groups are
components, Product Group I and systems, Product Groups II, III and IV.
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Product Group I - Optical Building Blocks
PTI's components make up this line. They are composed of:
- light sources, both conventional and nitrogen and dye lasers
- fiber optic illuminators
- light and sampling handling modules,
- various detectors using: photomultipliers, photodiodes and intensified
CCD cameras,
- microscope accessories that can be used with virtually any
manufacturers microscopes (PTI does not manufacture microscopes.)
PTI has introduced a new line of power supplies and starters for its light
sources that reduce RF interference, which has traditionally been a problem with
such products since they are used in places where computers and other sensitive
instrumentation are subject to interference from the RF. In addition the power
supplies and starters are lower in cost of manufacture.
PTI is currently test marketing a new light source line that will offer even
more efficient power output than its current light sources. PTI has applied for
patent.
In conjunction with M.U.T., a German engineering Company, PTI is introducing a
new intelligent, portable spectrophotometer. This device has the capability to
detect many different types of substances or to analyze light, such as color
detection. In addition to the two current models PTI will introduce a full line
of accessories. Currently the product is being marketed through the component
group, but it is expected that over the next few years the product will become
an independent product line.
This product line has a very broad market, since these modules can be used
wherever light is used. In addition, the modules are being sold as singles
units, as well as included in several PTI systems. There are significant O.E.M.
applications that PTI is currently actively pursuing. This product line is PTI's
oldest. The products have been totally redesigned and kept up to the latest
technology and specifications.
Product Group II - Fluorescence Microscopy and Imaging
This is a new product line that was reorganized to combine all microscope based
fluorescence systems under one product line. Formerly the products were under
two separate product groups, the Ratio-Fluorescence Systems (excluding imaging)
- RatioMaster Line and the Fluorescence Imaging Systems ImageMaster Line.
The RatioMaster products were the first PTI systems, introduced in 1987. The
RatioMaster systems can detect various ions, or fluorescent-labeled compounds,
generally found in living organisms. The products have a wide range of
applications in the medical, life science and pharmaceutical areas. They are
currently used for research applications to diagnose diseases, monitor drug
effects, or to understand various functions of living organisms. The systems can
be used to study, in-vivo: tissues, cells, single cells or even events happening
at sub-cellular levels.
Because the ImageMaster systems are used with PTI's RatioMaster systems and with
microscopes and therefore serve very similar markets PTI has decided to
incorporate them into the same product line. Imaging gives the added dimension
of spatial resolution. Not only can one detect and measure substances, but one
can also tell where they are - or if they are on the move - where they are
moving.
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The patented RAM technology, developed with the MLTV funding, continues PTI's
technological leadership in this area. The RAM technology is used with both
RatioMaster and ImageMaster systems.
Added to this product line in the next fiscal year is the new fluorescence
microscopy systems. These systems are used for routine fluorescence applications
in microscopy.
Product Group III - Spectrofluorometers - QuantaMaster
PTI has recently entered the largest single market in the fluorescence area.
Steady state fluorimeters are used in most basic fluorescence applications
wherever one has to detect small amount of substances, such as: environmental,
pharmaceutical, chemical, medical and process control.
PTI's modular architecture and price is unique in this market. The Company is
continuing to add options and accessories to complete the product line. Sales
have continued to increase at a steady state for this product line, but PTI is
looking at additional financing to fully exploit this product line.
Product Group IV - Fluorescence Life-Time Systems - TimeMaster
TimeMaster(TM) systems are used to determine fluorescence lifetimes, a technique
used to distinguish between similar substances. The fluorescence lifetime
represents the average time that a molecule spends in an excited state before
emitting a photon and returning to the ground state. It is an important and
unique feature of an excited state. Fluorescence lifetimes are very short. Most
fluorescence lifetimes fall within the range of hundreds of picoseconds to
hundreds of nanoseconds. The fluorescence lifetime can function as a molecular
stopwatch to observe a variety of interesting molecular events. An antibody may
rotate slightly within its molecular environment. A protein can change
orientation. A critical binding reaction may occur. Because the time-scale of
these events is similar to the fluorescence lifetime, the measurement of the
fluorescence lifetime allows the researcher to peer into the molecule and
observe these phenomena.
In late fiscal 1994, the Company introduced a revolutionary newly patented
design, and the most economical systems for fluorescence lifetime measurements,
the TimeMaster(TM) fluorescence Lifetime Spectrometers. These systems
revolutionized the fluorescence lifetime techniques by designing easy-to-use
systems which are consistent with the Company's modular and open architecture
strategy for products. Research and development efforts by the Company during
fiscal 1994 and 1995 provided a product line with a unique strobe technique, a
choice of two different lifetime techniques and three different base system
configurations as follows:
StrobeMaster(TM) provides a unique and patented strobe technique for measuring
fluorescence lifetimes which is economical to use. The strobe technique is
intensity dependent and provides accurate measurements at very high speeds.
These characteristics of the strobe technique are very important in the life
sciences area, where samples are not stable over long periods of time. The
StrobeMaster(TM) uses a NanoFlash(TM) illuminator source.
LaserStrobe(TM) is based on the strobe technique for measuring fluorescence
lifetimes and is as unique as the StrobeMaster(TM). With a nitrogen/dye laser
illumination source, the strobe technique provides for measurements of lifetimes
with a precision of below one nanosecond.
The unique strobe technique, through the introduction and sales of the
StrobeMaster(TM) and LaserStrobe(TM), has started to be recognized and accepted
for measuring fluorescence lifetimes.
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New Product Application Developments
In addition to the development of new or improved products, PTI has started to
focus on new and emerging applications that have great future potential.
Although these applications may be long term, the lessons learned can be
incorporated into existing products keeping PTI's instrumentation state of the
art. Given PTI's limited financial resources, we have been judicious in pursuing
only a select few hot new opportunities.
New this year is the application of PTI's expertise in fluorescence microscopy
to forensics. PTI has developed and sold a specially developed forensic
microscopy system for a major U.S. crime lab for the identification of various
traces of substances that are found at a crime scene. PTI is currently examining
if this market niche is economically viable, since the Company has the expertise
to develop routine equipment for use in these types of applications.
PTI's fluorescence instrumentation this summer took a trip with the world famed
submersible Elvin, of Titanic fame. The submarine explored black smokers more
than a mile in depth on the ocean floor for signs of living organisms, where
PTI's instrumentation was used in studying these samples.
PTI will continue to explore the frontiers of science in fluorescence
applications. Currently PTI has been invited to explore fluorescence
applications in outer spac |
