Microcheck Combats Frequent Weather-Related Power Outages with
Franek Technologies Power Protection System

Further aligning itself with market leaders, Franek Technologies installs mission-critical power protection system at Microcheck to ensure its Applied Biosystems Gene Sequencer runs around the clock, processing 300 samples per week.

Tustin, CA – In a good month, Microcheck, a leading microbial identification laboratory, suffers only 2 power outages, and again, that’s a good month. Frequent outages are caused by severe weather, including ice and windstorms, in its remote location in the one-stoplight town of Northfield Vermont. Since even a power flicker as short as 30 milliseconds will result in equipment damage, sample loss, and lost productive time, Dr. Mike Sinclair, CEO/Laboratory Director of Microcheck, proactively installed a certified Franek Technologies power protection system with battery back-up to protect the laboratory’s $200,000 Applied Biosystems (ABI) PRISM® 3130xl Genetic Analyzer/Gene Sequencer. According to Dr. Sinclair, if the laboratory’s Gene Sequencer were to go down due to unconditioned power, the laboratory simply would not be able to keep up with customer demand, which requires running 300 samples per week. Since the overall success of the company is directly linked to its ability to run tests 24/7, Microcheck’s investment in the Franek Technologies power protection system was determined to be mission critical.

As experts in bacterial and fungal identification, environmental monitoring, and microbiology testing, Microcheck, which is FDA-regulated, supports quality control programs for the pharmaceutical, medical device, and related industries. In the pharmaceutical/medical device arena, which represents the lion share of Microcheck’s business, the company ensures that critical human health medical devices, such as heart valves and knee replacements, are completely sterilized and therefore safe for transplant into patients. Without this verification process, the long-term prognosis for such transplant patients would be significantly compromised.

Without the certified instrumentation-specific power protection provided by Franek Technologies, Dr. Sinclair estimates that each power outage would result in a monetary loss of a minimum of $9,000 per outage in laser damage to the ABI Gene Sequencer. Since the Microcheck laboratory experiences at least 2 outages per month, the cost of unprotected instrumentation is significant, and this doesn’t include sample loss or lost productive time as a result of the outages. At the recommendation of ABI, Dr. Sinclair contacted Franek Technologies for a customized power protection solution with battery back-up so that, when the inevitable power outages do occur, the Gene Sequencer is able to complete the test run and then initiate a managed shut-down of the instrumentation and computer systems, thereby protecting all instrumentation and samples.

“I sleep better at night knowing that our ABI Gene Sequencer will run 24/7 regardless of what’s going on weather-wise outside our laboratory,” explains Dr. Mike Sinclair, CEO/Laboratory Director, Microcheck. “It would be ridiculous not to have a Franek Technologies’ unit supporting the Gene Sequencer as the risks are just too great and directly tied to our bottom line. Our investment in this level of protection is insurance and absolutely mission crucial for Microcheck.”

“We are very proud of our relationship with Microcheck,” states Raymond L. Hecker, VP/General Manager, Franek Technologies, Inc. “We like being associated with leading-edge organizations who have selected our products to help them advance science, public health, and national security. We look forward to working with Microcheck for years to come.”

Franek Technologies, Inc. specializes in providing Laboratory Productivity/Protection Systems (LPS/UPS) for analytical, diagnostics, forensic, life-science, pharmaceutical and biotechnology instrumentation systems applications. Its certified uninterruptible battery backup power sources for laboratory and instrumentation applications protect over $3 billion in laboratory assets worldwide. The company’s power engineers have developed LPS/UPS products for over 1,500 instrumentation applications, from more than 100 manufacturers, to meet US Government power requirements. For more information, call (800) 326-6480 or visit

Microcheck is an independent microbiology laboratory specializing in microbial identification of bacteria and fungi. The company supports quality control programs for the pharmaceutical, medical device, personal health, sterile manufacturing/packaging, agriculture/food, raw materials, water testing, research, bioremediation, and other industries. Over 200,000 isolates have been identified to species at Microcheck since 1988. Microcheck’s scientific teams are experts in bacterial identification, fungi identification, gene sequencing, environmental monitoring, and microbiology testing. For more information, call (866) 709-6600 or visit www.microcheck.com.

Franek Technologies, Inc. 15052
Red Hill Ste C. Tustin CA 92780
Email: sales@franek.com

US
Phone: 1800-326-6480
Fax: 714 258 1900