Cairn Research Ltd. is an independent scientific instruments manufacturer based in Faversham in the UK. We mainly produce instrumentation for fast, sensitive optical measurements, with our equipment being found around the world in laboratories using fluorescent indicators or fluorescent proteins to investigate the dynamics of physiological systems. Our customer base is primarily leading researchers with demanding scientific goals, and many of our products have been developed as a result of our responding to their specific requirements.  This has also allowed us to diversify into other areas for which they may have a simultaneous requirement, such as bioluminescence, electrophysiology and flash photolysis, all of which we now support.

The company was set up in 1985 by Dr Martin Thomas, who had previously attempted to combine his interests in research and commerce by accepting an offer to join an industrial research laboratory, where he spent some years doing neither.  His experiences made him realise that a small company with a "can-do" philosophy, unimpeded by multiple layers of uninspiring management, could compete effectively with much larger organisations. From the start, Cairn was intended to be a fully independent and self-financing company, and it remains so to this day. We purchased our first premises in 1991, and the company grew steadily during that decade, so by the turn of the century we were in pressing need of somewhere significantly bigger.  We're all very attached to the Faversham area, but a shortage of suitable larger premises in the local area made us become rather more inventive in our search for a new home.  In 2001 a small farm just outside the town became available, and we were able to get permission to convert the old farm buildings for business use, while Martin found himself lumbered with the additional project of restoring a large but rather delapidated farmhouse to live in.  By 2003 both projects were sufficiently complete for Martin and the business to move in to their respective new homes, but further development of both has been continuing.  In 2009 some further land, which was originally part of the farm, became available, so we took the opportunity to acquire that as well!  With Martin's activities split between these various interests, and his desire to get back more to the R&D side of things, Jeremy Graham increasingly became involved in the running of the business, and he was formally made Managing Director in 2008.  But Martin is still very much around, and his various activities include composing stuff like this, as well as designing many of our new products.

Cairn has a very active R&D programme, and we are assisted in this by the use of professional development software for specialist design work. We have workstations for Vutrax for electronic design and component layout; Zemax for optical design and development; and SolidEdge for 3D modelling and drafting. To complement this we have in-house mechanical engineering facilities, which are used extensively for both research and development and custom design projects. The nature of our research programme helps us to provide the best possible customer support, as it is usually possible to speak to the person who actually designed a product or system to answer questions or solve problems.

In addition to manufacturing our own proprietary research equipment we are experienced in providing complete integrated systems based around our hardware and high quality components from other suppliers. We have good working relationships with the top manufacturers of research microscopes, regularly incorporating microscopes from Nikon and Olympus into our complete systems, although we can support microscopes from other manufacturers as well. In the fluorescence imaging field we work with companies such as Andor, Photometrics and Hamamatsu, to provide comprehensive solutions. We guarantee that whether you choose to buy a single component or an entire system from Cairn, you will get the same high level of service and support.