 In 1996 Molecular Devices acquired the FLIPR technology from NovelTech Systems Inc. of Ann Arbor Michigan and in 2000 they licensed the IonWorks high-throughput electrophysiology system from Essen Bioscience also of Ann Arbor Michigan.Molecular Devices then acquired Universal Imaging Corporation in 2002, Axon Instruments in 2004, and Blueshift Technologies in 2008, broadening its portfolio to include electrophysiology products, scanners and analysis software for microarrays, and workstations for cell-based screening using high-resolution imaging.In March 2007, Molecular Devices was acquired by MDS, Inc. (Toronto, Canada) and became part of MDS Analytical Technologies.