Yamaha Motor Launches Strategic Partnership with Nikon Instruments, USA - Creating Synergies Between Both Companies in Advanced Technologies and Support Services for Drug Discovery -

Iwata, Shizuoka, Japan, December 5, 2025 -- Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (Tokyo: 7272) announced today that the company has entered into a strategic partnership with Nikon Instruments Inc. (Head Office: New York, USA; regarding the initiatives of both companies in drug discovery and research processes. Through this partnership, the Nikon BioImaging Lab (NBIL) located in Boston Massachusetts, USA, will serve as a showroom for Yamaha Motor's innovative cell picking and imaging system, CELL HANDLER 2. By integrating NBIL's advanced imaging technologies with the capabilities of CELL HANDLER 2, the collaboration will provide dedicated support for U.S.-based researchers engaged in drug discovery and related research.

Based on this collaboration, Yamaha Motor has installed its CELL HANDLER 2 at NBIL, the R&D hub operated by Nikon Instruments. This will give researchers in the United States access to Yamaha Motor's state-of-the-art cell picking and imaging system in the same facility as Nikon's cutting edge imaging technologies.
In addition, as part of NBIL's support services for drug discovery and research, researchers considering the purchase of CELL HANDLER 2 will be able to conduct verification tests using their own samples to confirm the system's effectiveness in cell picking. This will allow the development of assay workflows tailored to each customer's specific research needs.
Through this collaboration, the aim is to expand the use of both Nikon Instruments' imaging technologies and Yamaha Motor's CELL HANDLER 2, system for streamlined research and experimental workflows involving cells.

Nikon Instruments is a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Nikon Corporation (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo), engaged in the development and manufacture of optical and digital imaging technologies for biomedical applications. The company established NBIL in 2019 to provide research support specializing in microscope imaging and image analysis.

Yamaha Motor launched CELL HANDLER 2, a cell picking and imaging system designed to enhance the efficiency and refinement of research and experiments for new drug development, in March 2025. Having identified strong synergies with Nikon Instruments, which also offers products and services for cellular research, we reached this agreement.

CELL HANDLER 2

Nikon BioImaging Lab, USA

Release ID: 89177946