Pierce Biotechnology

Pierce Biotechnology Inc. is the ultimate origin of a number of products and product lines in the Thermo Fisher Scientific research and development division, "Thermo Scientific Pierce Protein Biology." The company from which this division originated, the Rockford, Illinois-based Pierce Chemical Company (PCC) was founded in 1948 when Alan Pierce assumed active management of a company known as Midwest Extraction, which focused on isolating chlorophyll from alfalfa (to take advantage of 1930s research arguing therapeutic uses for chlorophyll in infections, burns, and amputation). In assuming leadership of the company, Pierce transitioned the company to being a manufacturer of fine organic chemicals, giving it the PCC name in 1950. Among other advances, PCC was the first commercial manufacturer of ninhydrin for use in amino acid analysis. After the first several years, the company diversified into other products and markets. Roy Oliver succeeded Pierce as company president in 1965 (Pierce remaining affiliated with eponymous products and business units until his retirement in 1994). Under Oliver, PCC expanded its operations internationally, entering into agreements with European distributors. The company's focus began to shift in the 1970s from the manufacture of organic chemical products at scale, to research, development, and production, of high-purity reagents for biotechnology research at smaller scales—resulting in its name chance to Pierce Biotechnology (PBT). PBT became a subsidiary of Perstorp Group in the Perstorp Life Science Division, was spun off as a component of this division as Perbio Science AB, which was subsequently acquired by Fisher Scientific International in 2003. Fisher merged with Thermo Electron in 2006, bringing some former PCC and PBT product lines of Perbio Science AB under Thermo Fisher Scientific management, as brands of its "Thermo Scientific Pierce Protein Biology" division. In 1983, Perstorp, a Sweden-based chemical company, purchased Pierce. Perstorp was a manufacturer of chemicals, resins, plastics, and laminates.