History and background – ESA  has a distinguished history of innovation, fueled by a desire to get answers for research problems and solve specific applications challenges for customers. Originally named Environmental Sciences Associates, ESA was founded in 1968 by four recently graduated MIT PhDs who set out to develop an instrument to measure lead in blood based on a novel electrochemical technique, called anodic stripping voltammetry, or ASV. The result was the first practical means of testing for lead poisoning outside the reference laboratory. Since then, ESA has introduced the first and only point-of-care testing device for lead poisoning cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Building on this success, ESA scientists began studying the neurochemical damage caused by lead poisoning using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Frustrated by limitations of available electrochemical-detection technology, ESA invented a more-stable, selective, and sensitive detector – a flow-through electrochemical cell made from porous graphite, as well as a new class of detector: the Coulochem^® – and ultimately, a complete line of optimized HPLC equipment. Additional research challenges led to the design of a multi-sensor detector – the CoulArray^® – which allowed as many as three-orders-of-magnitude improvement in sensitivity compared to other technology. Most recently, in 2005, ESA broke ground again, pioneering at customer request the first truly universal detector – the award-winning Corona^® Charged Aerosol Detector (CAD^®).

Today, ESA designs and manufactures a full range of specialty detectors, instruments, reagents, consumables, and total solutions – turn-key systems with all you need to achieve maximum performance: integrated components, including instruments, columns, reagents, and, in some cases, sample prep – along with expert chemistry, application, and service support. Our products can be found in virtually every type of clinical-diagnostic, biomedical-research, and industrial laboratory worldwide – from pharmaceutical research and quality control, to oncology, food and beverage, and scientific discovery. Through ESA Laboratories, we also provide a range of analytical services – from industrial-hygiene and clinical-diagnostic analysis to metabolomics profiling.

Headquartered about 30 miles northwest of Boston in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, ESA employs a talented, multidisciplinary staff of approximately 90 worldwide. These include design and service engineers, applications scientists, marketing specialists, and precision-manufacturing experts. Many hold advanced scientific or engineering degrees. Employees work cross-functionally to provide quick response to customers and to solve complex product-development and technical-support problems.

What hasn't changed is our commitment to our customers. We want the ESA name to be synonymous with the highest-quality products and services, as well as superior technical and applications expertise. We know that providing state-of-the-art instruments isn't enough to solve our customers' challenging analytical problems. We also provide consumables, software, and the technical know-how and service and applications expertise to help them be successful. We work to earn our reputation every day – and we welcome your feedback and applications challenges. Contact us and let us know how we're doing, and what else we can do to help.

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