Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets a broad range of products and solutions for the life science research and clinical diagnostics markets. The company was founded in 1952 in Berkeley, California, by husband and wife team David and Alice Schwartz, both graduates of the University of California, Berkeley. The company was formed with a charter to make life in the lab easier for researchers by offering useful products that would simplify processes and save time to ultimately accelerate the discovery process. Over the years, through internal research and development efforts and acquisitions Bio-Rad's line of products expanded and the company expanded into new markets. Today, Bio-Rad supplies the life science research, healthcare, analytical chemistry and other markets products and systems used to separate complex chemical and biological materials and to identify, analyze, and purify their components.[2] Bio-Rad's customers include university and research institutions, hospitals, public health and commercial laboratories, as well as the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and food safety industries. Bio-Rad is based in Hercules, California, and has operations worldwide.