Organized early around the realization that biomedical research would need more tools, as a small firm CellASIC was involved in the develpment microfluidic platforms for cell and tissue based applications. The firm had technology that w/coul enable precise control and large scale analysis of the basic unit of life-- a living cell. Though advances had been made in molecular biology to allow individual genes, protein binding sites, and chemical/biological structures to be identified and targeted, a major technological challenge continued to be investigation how the complex interactions of these individual components result in clinically relevant behaviors. CellASIC addressed this bottleneck by providing precise microfabricated environments to improve the functionality of cell-based experimentation. The firm was initially acquired by Merck and then, in 2012, merged with EMD Millipore Corporation in a cash transaction, CellASIC continues to be a component of that larger firm's offerings in that space.