Averica Discovery Announces Winner of First Averica Award for Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC)

WORCESTER, Mass., July 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Averica Discovery Services, a contract research organization (CRO) with specialized expertise in small molecule analysis and purification, today announced the recipient of the first Averica Award. William (Bill) Farrell, Senior Principal Scientist at Pfizer Inc., was honored for his distinguished contributions to preparative supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC.) The award will be presented today by Jeffrey Kiplinger, PhD, CEO of Averica Discovery, at SFC 2013, the 7^th International Conference on Packed Column Supercritical Fluid Chromatography.

"We are delighted that the first recipient of the Averica Award is Bill Farrell, who with his team at Pfizer has been central in helping to make SFC such a powerful technology," noted Dr. Kiplinger. "Bill has had a substantial impact on the design of preparative SFC systems, including his critical contributions to stationary phase development, and he has played a major influential role at relevant scientific meetings. At Averica Discovery, we rely on preparative SFC to provide our customers a scalable approach to chromatographic isolation on an accelerated timescale, giving us the opportunity to appreciate Bill's contributions to the field daily." 

SFC is used for the analysis and purification of low to moderate molecular weight molecules and for chiral separations. Carbon dioxide-based SFC achieves high resolution, yet is faster and more efficient than liquid-based HPLC. Importantly, SFC eliminates the need for organic chemical solvents and recycles CO₂, making it an environmentally conscious, "greener" alternative. The increasingly prominent role of SFC technology is evidenced by the fact that the number of SFC-related articles in chromatography journals has risen 4-5 fold over the past decade.

Mr. Farrell commented, "This is really an honor. I've been lucky to work with colleagues and collaborators who contributed a passion for science and chromatography to many different projects, and I'm especially grateful that the body of our work is being recognized as a whole."  As part of the Averica Award, Mr. Farrell received an honorarium and will deliver a keynote presentation at the SFC 2013 conference today.

The Averica Award is given annually at the International Conference on Packed Column SFC organized by the Green Chemistry Group. Recipients are chosen from submitted nominees, based on the novelty and impact of their work in the field of preparative SFC.

Separately, Averica Discovery Services announced that it will be moving to a larger facility at the end of the month. The new facility, located at 260 Cedar Hill Street, Marlborough, MA, 01752, essentially doubles the company's space. 

Dr. Kiplinger added, "We are proud that our commitment to providing exceptional, technologically advanced services has enabled us to double our business over the past year. We look forward to further strong growth based in our new facilities. And now we're even closer to our many customers in the greater Boston life sciences community."

SFC 2013, the 7^th International Conference on Packed Column SFC, will be held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, July 10-12, 2013. For more information, visit www.greenchemistrygroup.org/index.html.

About Averica Discovery Services
Founded in 2007, Averica Discovery Services is a contract research organization with specialized expertise in small molecule analysis and purification. Averica Discovery Services supplies a wide variety of chromatography and analytical services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life sciences researchers. Its services include scalable compound supply, chiral resolution, pre-formulation and proprietary services such as Targeted Isolation™. Averica is located in the heart of the East Coast life sciences corridor, just west of Boston. For more information, visit: www.avericadiscovery.com.

SOURCE Averica Discovery Services