Eppendorf is a leading life science company that develops and sells instruments, consumables, and services for liquid-, sample-, and cell handling in laboratories worldwide. Its product range includes pipettes and automated pipetting systems, dispensers, centrifuges, mixers, spectrometers, and DNA amplification equipment as well as ultra-low temperature freezers, fermentors, bioreactors, CO2 incubators, shakers, and cell manipulation systems. Consumables such as pipette tips, test tubes, microtiter plates, and disposable bioreactors complement the range of highest-quality premium products. Eppendorf products are most broadly used in academic and commercial research laboratories, e.g., in companies from the pharmaceutical and biotechnological as well as the chemical and food industries. They are also aimed at clinical and environmental analysis laboratories, forensics, and industrial laboratories performing process analysis, production, and quality assurance. Eppendorf was founded in Hamburg, Germany in 1945 and has about 4,500 employees worldwide. The company has subsidiaries in 28 countries and is represented in all other markets by distributors.