Editing Symyx Technologies (section)

==History==

Founded in 1994 by Dr. [[Alejandro Zaffaroni]] and Dr. [[Peter G. Schultz]], Symyx' conceptual basis drew from [[Affymax]], Inc. and [[Affymetrix]], Inc., which commercialized the use of high-speed combinatorial methods for [[pharmaceutical]] and [[genetics|genetic]] research, respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sma-digital.com/sma/200703/?pg=14 |title=Automated Research: Not just for pharma |date=April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929200629/http://www.sma-digital.com/sma/200703/?pg=14 |archive-date=29 September 2007 }}</ref> Dr. Eric McFarland, professor at UCSB, was the founding director.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://chemengr.ucsb.edu/people/eric-mcfarland | title=Eric McFarland| date=2015-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://greenyug.com/about-us/eric-w-mcfarland-ph-d-m-d/ | title=Eric W. McFarland, PhD, M.D. &#124; Greenyug LLC}}</ref> Symyx screens about a million materials a year and has produced a product pipeline with several materials that have the potential to be commercialized in the next few years. Examples of their discovery efforts include X-ray storage phosphors for radiography, polymers to speed DNA research and catalysts for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, chemicals and plastics.

In 2004, Symyx Technologies acquired Intellichem, a software manufacturer for [[electronic laboratory notebook]]s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2004/11/15/daily8.html |title=Symyx buying IntelliChem |date=15 November 2004 |publisher=bizjournals.com |accessdate=17 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Intelligent Electronic Laboratory Notebooks for Accelerated Organic Process R&D |journal=Organic Process Research & Development |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=1015–1023 |year=2004 |doi=10.1021/op049890j |last1 = Van Eikeren|first1 = Paul}}</ref> and, in 2007 Symyx Technologies acquired [[MDL Information Systems]] (originally Molecular Design Limited, Inc.), a provider of R&D informatics in the chemistry and life sciences industries, which had been launched as a computer-aided drug design firm in January 1978.  With this purchase came the purveyorship of the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]-[[NIOSH]] [[Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances]] (RTECS, www.cdc.gov/niosh/rtecs), a database of basic toxicity information on household chemical substances, food additives, drugs, solvents, biocides, and chemical waste components which as of first quarter of 2012 contained ≈170,000 entries. In 2008, Symyx sold non-RTECS portions of the occupational health and safety (OHS) component of the MDL business to ChemAdvisor, Inc., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Subsequent innovations derived from these business components included an enterprise [[Electronic lab notebook|electronic laboratory notebook]] (ELN) capable of supporting multiple scientific disciplines.<ref>[http://www.mdl.com/products/experiment/symyx_notebook Symyx Notebook], 2008  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928083214/http://www.mdl.com/products/experiment/symyx_notebook |date=28 September 2011 }}</ref>

In 2010 Symyx spun off their laboratory robotics business as Freeslate, Inc. Freeslate developed high throughput systems for automating chemical research. In 2010, the remaining Symyx software business merged with [[Accelrys]], with the combined company being known simply as Accelrys.<ref>{{cite news |title=Shareholders approve Accelrys-Symyx merger |first=Mike |last=Allen |newspaper=San Diego Business Journal |date=2 July 2010 |url=http://www.sdbj.com/news/2010/jul/02/accelrys-and-symyx-take-final-steps-merge/ |accessdate=3 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genomeweb.com/informatics/accelrys-merge-symyx-all-stock-transaction|title=Accelrys and Symyx merger announcement (from genomeweb)|date=April 2010}}</ref> In 2014, Accelrys in turn merged with Dassault Systèmes,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://schnitgercorp.com/2014/01/30/huge-news-ds-accelrys-merge-plm-chemistry/ |title=Dassault Systèmes and Accelrys to merge PLM & chemistry |date=30 January 2014 |access-date=14 June 2020 }}</ref> who announced the creation of the BIOVIA brand to supply software for scientific applications.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.3dsbiovia.com/about/news-pr/biovia-announcement.html |title=Dassault Systèmes Introduces BIOVIA |date=21 May 2014 |access-date=14 June 2020 }}</ref>