Our PacBio RS arrived today at 8 am sharp. And we started the Facebook livestream of this event the same time, allowing the world to watch the arrival of Europe’s first PacBio RS for commercial sequencing services.

Three forwarding experts from Saxony wearing red T-shirts saying “Schenker Special” did a really fantastic job.  This Schenker A-Team arrived late last night and was specialized in the professional transport of really heavy and really expensive goods. While we were hyperventilating when our PacBio was about to be unloaded, they stayed completely cool. We learned that they normally move equipment in the value of a couple of million Euros. To them, the transport job in Konstanz was a mere snack between breakfast and lunch.  At least, the Pacific Biosciences team was sweating, too – and this was not due to the extremely warm summer morning. Terry Pizzie told us that it was the first time that the machine was lifted via a forklift and not, as usual, via a hydraulic ramp. Well, we did it the European way.

At 10.30 am the PacBio had already arrived at its final destination in the lab. At 12 am it had its first admirers: Journalists from Europe and Asia visiting GATC Biotech during their press tour in Germany.

Stay tuned for the next installment.