Cepheid s principal activities are to develop, manufacture and market fully integrated systems that enable sophisticated genetic and deoxyribonucleic acid analysis of patients and organisms. These systems help in analyzing complex biological samples in disposable cartridges designed to perform rapidly and automatically sophisticated molecular biological procedures. Other functions include automated purification of DNA, screening for disease-causing agents, rapid detection of food and water contaminants and generic profiling. The company s products include Smart Cycler, a DNA amplification and detection system, and the GeneXpert system that combines sample preparation with the amplification and detection functions of the Smart Cycler. Major customers are academic/universities, government and biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies. Cepheid is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.