PerkinElmer layoffs won’t affect Spokane’s Signature Genomics

Massachusetts biotech firm PerkinElmer announced recently it's laying off 72 workers as part of a restructuring plan. 

The announcement, happily, has no impact on Signature Genomics, the Spokane microarray-based diagnostic company that PerkinElmer acquired in 2010.

Signature's President Lisa Shaffer confirmed by email on Thursday the layoffs will not spread to Spokane.

The recently filed 10Q report from PerkinElmer suggests Spokane's operations are among the company's strongest growth sectors:

The increase in our Human Health segment sales during the six months ended July 3, 2011 was due primarily to increased demand from the adoption of our neonatal and infectious disease screening offerings in the diagnostics market, increased growth in the academic sector for both instruments and reagents in the research market, and continued growth from industrial and veterinary applications in our medical imaging business.