in the late 1980s when John Liner introduced a molded version. By 1990 there were more than 15 companies producing a wide range of microplates with different features. It was estimated that 125 million microplates were used in 2000 alone. The word "Microtiter" is a registered trademark of Thermo Electron OY (.) Since "Microtiter" is a registered trademark it should not be used as a generic term. Other trade names for microplates include Viewplate and Unifilter (introduced in the early 1990s by Polyfiltronics and sold by Packard Instrument, which is now part of PerkinElmer). In 1996, the Society for Biomolecular Screening (SBS), later known as Society for Biomolecular Sciences, began an initiative to create a standard definition of a microplate. A series of standards was proposed in 2003 and published by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on behalf of the SBS. The standards govern various characteristics of a microplate including well dimensions (e.g. diameter, spacing and depth) as well as plate properties (e.g. dimensions and rigidity) (standardized dimension 127.76 mm × 85.48 mm), which allows interoperability between microplates, instrumentation and equipment from different suppliers, and is particularly important in laboratory automation. In 2010, the Society for Biomolecular Sciences merged with the Association for Laboratory Automation (ALA) to form a new organisation, the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS). Henceforth, the microplate standards are known as ANSI/SLAS standards. See also Picotiter plate Nanotiter plate References External links An article about the invention of the microplate, published in G.I.T. Laboratory Journal (accessed 06/10/10) Dr. Gyula Takátsy, at the Hungarian National Center of Epidemiology website (accessed 06/10/10) Official website publishing Microplate Standards Laboratory equipment