Bruker Corporation (BRKR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. This is Dan Brennan from UBS Healthcare team. Apologies for the bit of a delay. We're still working out the kinks on day 1 of the U.S. -- day 1 of the UBS Healthcare conference. Glad you could join us. A few minutes behind, but we have some flexibility at the back end, really pleased to be joined with me here on the virtual stage with its senior management team, Bruker. We have on the audio, Frank Laukien who doesn't need an intro, but President and Chief Executive Officer; and we have Mark Munch, who's President of Bruker Nano; and we have Miroslava Minkova, who is Head of Investor Relations. So feel free to send me emailed questions. I think any of you on the webcast, there's probably a link to do so, but I've certainly got a list to go through here. So again, apologies for a bit of a delay here, but glad you could be with us. Frank, Mark and Miroslava, welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dan. Pleasure to be here.

Terrific, terrific. So obviously, a lot of exciting stuff to talk about with Bruker. Project Accelerate 2.0 and a lot to dig in there. Maybe, Frank, just as a kind of highway of introducing the session, if you will. Bruker was on this path of organic growth recovery after fixing income statement and the balance sheet, COVID hit. Now you had a little bit of a pause now and now you're back on track, you had some really strong growth in the last quarter. How do we think about the organic growth profile of Bruker, in light of the expanded set of new growth initiatives with Project Accelerate 2.0?

Yes. Thank you, Dan. Yes. As you've said, we've had a terrific organic growth in the first quarter, well over 20%. And we, again, have suggested a [ color ] that for the second quarter, we also expect to be at 15% or higher organic growth. Some of it catch-up from last year, but also really a very good growth on top of that with a pretty broad-based recovery now in academic and industrial markets, markets for our core business. But really also very good strength even last year during the pandemic, and continuing this year, in our Project Accelerate initiatives and Project Accelerate 2.0, which we've enhanced and expanded further, particularly in proteomics and spatial biology, single-cell omics, something my colleague, Mark will explain in a little bit more in a moment as well as in molecular diagnostics. So very good growth drivers. We have accordingly raised our guidance for the year significantly after the first quarter. We now expect to grow 12% -- well, 11% to 13%. 12% is the midpoint. And we are also expanding, believe that we can now -- we've expanded our margin expansion guidance to 210 to 250 bps, 230 at the midpoint, which would be an excellent margin improvement despite the fact that we have some currency headwinds and that we are very deliberately investing more in R&D for our Project Accelerate initiative because we have these historical, very large growth opportunities in proteomics and spatial biology that we intend to fully fund and drive accordingly. We've also increased our non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 at the midpoint after Q1. But let me pause here, and then continue to answer questions or turn things over to Mark. If you don't mind, Dan, maybe I'll turn things over to my colleague, Mark, because he's here for a very important reason, mainly need to update you, if you like, and also the other investors and add more on our spatial biology and single-cell omics initiatives, which are relatively new. Maybe he could take a few minutes to outline that.

Sure. Yes, happy to. We're certainly going to dig in with that, Mark, and we can go back to some of the high level stuff that I wanted to address with you. But yes, terrific, Mark. I would love for you to have us introduce it. I think there's a bit of a -- there's certainly an awareness of the broader space given what Tenex and NanoString and [ FluoroType ] and [indiscernible] and some of these other private players are doing, but I still think there's probably a decent information gap in kind of where Bruker fits in kind of the broader context. So we'd love to hear you introduce the opportunity in Bruker's capabilities in that space.

Yes. Sure. Happy to do so. We have 3 platforms in this spatial biology field. We had acquired Canopy Biosciences in September 2020. And this brings us into a very robust and quantitative targeted spatial proteomics [ for ChipCytometry ]. Why that's key, and really what differentiates them is they have 2 single-cell resolution and even subcellular resolution. That's important because if you want to be quantitative, you have to see every cell. So there are many technologies out there where you see kind of fuzzy regions of interest with big gaps between them. And you really want to be able to do accurate cell phenotyping. You have to go count every cell. So we're -- we have very good resolution. We're leveraging our fluorescence microscopy expertise that we've built over the years in Bruker to help that. And then also this ChipCytometry platform has [ a log ] HDR, high dynamic range in detection. That's unique in the marketplace. So what that means is we can detect very low concentration signals amongst very high concentrated signals. And so we use artificial intelligence algorithms to get really quantitative data. So the true single cell resolutions, subcellular combined with that high dynamic range, actually makes the Canopy platform very differentiated, very unique because really it's about the data. It's about getting quantitative data. And so we serve a lot of pharma in that business. So that's why it's maybe lesser-known than some of the other platforms you mentioned. But this is truly a pretty highly differentiated platform for really robust good science. That's the Canopy ChipCytometry. We also have a Vutara VXL platform. The VXL is a kind of Swiss Army knife, a multi spatial multiomics tool where a number of methods have been programmed, the workflows on that tool to allow investigations across proteomics, transcriptomics and spatial genomics. And so it is a kind of biological workstation, if you will, for spatialomics, where you can do wide-field microscopy well as super resolution, microscopy down to 20 nanometers. And then lastly, we formed new venture, Acuity Spatial Genomics. That's opened up a new frontier in spatial biology. So it is focused on understanding the 3D genome, structural architecture of the DNA in our nucleus. That's really important because understanding DNA is more about -- it's more than just understanding a linear sequence -- the sequence is you actually you have to understand, how that DNA is folded, each have about 1.8 meters each in every one of our every one of our cells in that nucleus. The nucleus is about 5 microns. So you've got to fold and crimple that DNA down into a structure. It is highly structured. And so that has a lot to do with understanding regulation and moderation of gene expression is how that DNA structure folds. So this is a whole kind of new frontier, very much a new frontier that we're opening up in and 3D spatial genomics. So we have those 3 platforms. The Canopy ChipCytometry for targeted proteomics. We have the Vutara VXL, which is a Swiss Army knife, really multimodal platform where it really allows researchers to do what they want. And then this new venture with Acuity Spatial Genomics.

And how do you think about -- when you think about the kind of go-to-market, and the opportunity set across those 3 different product categories, which one has the biggest opportunity set the way you guys see the market?

Yes. It's a good question. I think 2 of them have the biggest market opportunity. The ChipCytometry targeted spatial proteomics with Canopy. That's understanding protein expression and how that really manifests itself in terms of understanding the spatial neighborhood around that. And then the other is this very new area. I mean really are frontiers, frontier area for us and for the scientific community is Acuity Spatial Genomics. That's a really big deal. It's cutting-edge technologies. It comes out of our partnership with Harvard Medical School. And we're first in that and really trouble is in that area. So those 2 are really the ones that we have high hopes for the future.

And I think a lot -- myself included, I don't follow Tenex right now. But I think a lot of the investor community is -- I don't know that's the right word is, but they're conditioned, if you will, to think about some of the metrics when they're trying to compare and contrast different platforms. And you can't always fit them in like kind of a neat box. But nonetheless, some of the metrics that come out obviously are if it's an instrument, obviously, folks want to now what the cost of that instrument is. Certainly, on the performance characteristics, when you're talking about proteins, it's how many proteins can you analyze at once, it's this flexibility. You already talked about the resolution, so I think we're covered there, but then also just the normal performance characteristics as though just what's the throughput? Is this -- how many samples a day could you assess? So maybe just on the number of proteins, samples a day. And then I have a few follow-ups as well. But can you give us a sense on those 2 and then the cost structure?

Yes. So yes, I think the main performance characteristics are their plex, plexness, really resolution. So we're very much there on resolution. We're high plex. So we actually haven't experienced the limit in the plexness of our instrument. Often, though, in the world that we serve, which is in clinical discovery or translational research, you can talk about these hero experiments that get way up there. But really, the sweet spot is in the kind of 20 to 35 plex or so. And that's no problem for us. We've done experiments way above that. So we're high flex. We have a very high resolution. And then the key thing that's not talked about, which really separates us is this high dynamic range. If you're missing low concentration signals, amongst the medium or high concentration signals, then you're not actually picking up cells. And so then you can't do the cell phenotype [ aiding ] aspect. So those are really the 3 performance parameters. And we excel on those very well.

And can it be a service? Or do you buy a box from Bruker?

All of the above. So we have the instruments, you buy instruments with the controlled workflow software that guides the worker through and then does the analysis. We have a very robust analytical software. So we have the imaging, the fluidics. We sell consumables in the form of cytometry chips, sample carriers for both suspended cells as well as tissues. And then we do offer project analytical services. So -- and that just gets leveraged a fair amount, also where customers come to us and ask us to do the project for them.

And how much is the box if someone wants to buy that right?

Yes. So we're in the high 200s, 200,000, very kind of reasonable comparable and, in fact, lower than some of the other boxes out there.

And samples a day that you could process on that? How many samples a day could be run on Canopy?

Yes, you could run basically kind of multiple samples a day, probably kind of 3 to 4-type slides a day. Yes.

Interesting. And then maybe a final one, and then we'll go back to some bigger picture going back with Frank. But what's the sample modality that it works with? Is it fresh frozen or FFPE or both?

Yes, we run everything from suspended cells like PBMCs on the tissue world, both fresh frozen and FFPE.

So it's compatible with FFPE. Boxes in the high 200s on the plex. But you could do 20 to 35 easy. You have like sub single-cell, this high dynamic range and it's being sold mostly to pharma today, I guess, or...

Yes. Yes. It's mostly going to pharma today. Yes.

Okay. Yes, I [ suppose it is going to pharma today, yes ].

Keep in mind that in every experiment and every slide, we look at thousands or 10,000s of cells with a large field of view. So if you multiply the number of cells within any given experiment, times the number of experiments a day, it is really very, very high throughput as well.

Yes. Yes, we do who tissue imaging. So we have a very large field of view. So in any given experiment, you're looking at 10s, if not, 100,000 cells over time.

Okay. Got it. And then maybe the final one. So when a customer is deciding to evaluate a Canopy box, are they looking at genomics from NanoString? Are they considering looking at the spatial transcriptomics products from Tenex? So is it the same -- it sounds like it's in the same area as those types of companies. Is it -- am I incorrect in assuming that? Or is there reasons why your platform might be more like a different area than what those companies are targeting?

Yes. We specialize in the proteomics part. So some companies kind of do the kind of average work across transcriptomics and proteomics, but we really specialize in giving the high quantitation [Audio Gap] proteomics. So if you know, we have a very good solution if you really want to understand spatial proteomics.

Interesting.

And very often from an applications point of view that takes you into immunology, for instance, immunology research on COVID-19, or other topics as well as into immuno-oncology. So there are other neurodegeneration or neuro diseases. But those are some of the most important applications areas for us and with Canopy.

Interesting. We could certainly circle back. I mean, maybe we could switch gears a little bit and go back over to Frank. Got some other topics, but Mark, happy to come back to you as well to have a few more on that. But in the interest of time, I'd love to just circle over to Frank.

And then we'll also do a deep dive at our Investor meeting -- Investor and Analyst meeting on June 17. In fact, Mark will be in a way the featured speaker. We'll do a deeper dive on this than on MALDI Biotyper or NMR or proteomic because it is so new to the investment community. But anyway, on to your other questions, Dan.

Yes. Yes. Listen, makes sense. Thank you. So maybe just in terms of the overall growth rate, Frank, you characterize where you guys were in 1Q and Q2 and the momentum that you have. At the Investor Day a couple of years ago, you laid out this 5% to 7% type of growth rate that Bruker you think will get to. With the enhanced accelerate [ menu ] that you rolled out earlier this year, is that 5% to 7% still valid? Is it something north of that now because you've got even a bigger set of new growth drivers.

So we not reestablished or gone into multiyear guidance so far. We've only returned to full year guidance for this year, so I have to be careful here, but we expect to comment on that on June 17.

Got it. Okay. Okay. So maybe just going through a couple of the Accelerate 2.0 factors, if you don't mind. So MALDI, obviously, has been a homerun for Bruker. The installed base is north of 4,000. Anything that can cause an inflection in that growth rate? Just -- I know you got some new workflows that you're rolling out there. Just kind of walk us through a little bit on the MALDI, the size of that business today and how we think about the trajectory of that business and why -- what are the key factors.

Yes. And in fact, I'll take it a little bit broader because we have expanded with the Bruker-Hain acquisition also into PCR-based molecular diagnostics, which we leveraged quite a bit during the still ongoing pandemic. So we now have a -- also in Europe and in Africa, COVID testing, some advanced tests that are -- you're not only doing for -- looking for COVID, but also multiplexing that Flu winter plex panel that has been popular with some customers. And we also have launched a variant panel. Without needing to wait for NGS, we can actually do call the mutations around many of the variants. So that's not an unimportant part of Bruker. That's, of course, now relatively new within the last year to the molecular -- microbiology and molecular diagnostics. But coming back to microbiology and the MALDI Biotyper, it was a little bit slower during the pandemic because, of course, microbiology, compared to virology and COVID testing took a bit of a back seat, but it didn't get hit very hard. So it was going a little bit slower with consumables, still good, growing well. It is now back this year also in double-digit growth so far with excellent orders. Also, I think, gaining market share in Europe, a really good acceleration so far in the United States. Where if you recall, the penetration of the MALDI Biotyper in the U.S. is maybe half of what we have in U.S. Europe because we've been at it longer in Europe. And in the U.S.-only at very late in December of 2020, did we get U.S. FDA clearance for this very important Sepsityper IVD workflow i.e., fast, nearly universal identification of fungal and bacteria in patients that are going into sepsis or that have a positive blood culture. And that's really driven enormous interest. So I think that will begin to grow also our consumables business in the U.S., but almost more importantly, I think it makes it even more justifiable not only on economic rounds where the MALDI Biotyper makes complete sense, but also on reputation and liability grounds, if you like. I mean, a hospital, if they can save a few people and reduce their ICU time, when they're in -- because they're giving them a more appropriate treatment in sepsis, they may save lives, they may save ICU time and recovery time. So now it has this additional justification and we're very optimistic about the U.S. It has been accelerating since that Sepsityper FDA clearance that we expect the U.S. in the next few years to be very, very strong. And then last, but by no means least, it does turn out that the Chinese CDC, which is more regionalized than in all the provinces has a lot of different labs is also very significantly investing in epidemiology and surveyance of course, on the virology side but also in the microbiology side. So that also bodes well for MALDI Biotyper business. So very healthy, probably -- I mean, no, definitely, almost certainly this year, returning to double-digit growth for instruments. And of course, the consumables and aftermarket is now more than half of that business. Altogether, molecular and diagnostics is over $250 million -- microbiology and diagnostics, I misspoke, is now more than $250 million of our revenue, and carry some of the best margins in the business.

Got it. So maybe just kind of wrapping on the MALDI since it's been such a leadership area for Bruker. Could you just give us a sense of pre COVID, like what was that business growing at? And it sounds like given COVID plus some of the new approvals, that growth rate is probably sustained? Just give us a sense of kind of how much it has been driving growth at Bruker?

Well, consumables aftermarket and all of that has been growing in the very healthy double digits, I mean even faster than 20%. The instrumentation business growth in more recent years maybe cooled off to just high single digits, which is still good than during -- but now coming out of COVID, we think that's actually especially with the increased penetration in the U.S., and also additional opportunities for epidemiology in China and very healthy replacement and new systems business in Europe as well where there is a greater penetration already. We're expecting that from what I can see this year certainly to be back in the double digits even for the instrumentation business. And obviously, more and more assays, more and more of consumables and aftermarket opportunities. So that will continue in double digits, the consumables and aftermarket business, very healthy business. We expect that business to continue to be one of our major growth and margin drivers. It's maybe not the enormous tens of billions of TAM that we have maybe in proteomic and depending on what TAMs you want to believe in for spatial biology, but we think they're big, but a very, very solid business that we think can double again over the next several years, obviously, of a multiyear time frame with excellent margins. So it's just a beautiful -- it's our flywheel that business metaphor, obviously, from good to great. It's our flywheel. We add new capabilities. We have a next-generation system. It gets into new applications. It's just beautiful.

Interesting. Good stuff, Frank. timsTOF gets a lot of play. Obviously, the marketplace, given I think someone who checks a lot of investors probably have done along with ourselves that the product really has some unique characteristics. And it's been a nice growth engine. We just did a call last week that was very complementary or very positive towards timsTOF. So just coming on this Frank. In terms of -- I know you don't give out too much detail here. But like if we want to put a line in the sand on the size of timsTOF today, if you think about -- I know you continue to be constructive on the opportunity set, but just how do we think about the opportunity going forward from here, number 2. And then in terms of the competitive landscape, is it really coming from Orbi? Or is it coming from traditional QTOFs or both? Just where does the share come from to the extent timsTOF continues to do well?

Well, I think most importantly, it's not even just the zero-sum game. Most importantly, I think it's just the proteomics market, including the unbiased proteomics, by mass spectrometry, where you can see the proteins, but also the post translational modifications, correlation, important in signaling very important in cancer proteogenomics, looking at glycosylation. That's how cancer cells or viruses camouflage themselves from the immune system and many other interactions, say, in the tumor microenvironment, with that -- the glycosylation markers are important. So proteomics, and maybe just as important epiproteomics. I mean there is nothing close that you can do with targeted methods to capture both of those quantitatively in a large scale in depth. And so I think that's going to be the mainstream, although there will be other targeted and [ chips ] and [ Olink ] and other technologies. They will also play a healthy role. So I think that market is -- that market opportunity is really just enormous. And I see different numbers that others have put out there that talk about $50 billion or $100 billion opportunities, well, okay. Fantastic. But I think we have a multibillion-dollar opportunity here for our tools. And a few -- a couple of years ago, I would have said, well, I would have sized it at $500 million to $750 million. And whether it's many billions or tens of billions, almost doesn't matter. So it's -- I think it's going to be an enormous growth rate, where you can see that feel really increasing by an order of magnitude, perhaps 2 orders of magnitude, and rival or maybe at some point potentially exceed genomics with all of its flavors, epigenetics, transcriptomics and so on. So an enormously rising tide, that's good for all proteomics tools, that's particularly good for all mass spec tools. And yes, we, of course, have also gained market share as now the second serious alternative that's highly differentiated with a 4D-Proteomics with this technical term, but the collision cross sections is [ fourth ], I mentioned that you get a large-scale that you can look for AI, deep learning. That's just not available from any other technology. So yes, we're gaining market share and have gained market share against other QTOFs and also against the incumbent market leader, the Orbitrap franchise.

And kind of what's the latest update you've given in terms of the size of the timsTOF installed base and how do we think about what kind of annual traction that could be getting with timsTOF?

Yes. I think so far, we've said that at the end of -- Miroslava jump in here, perhaps. I think at the end of last year, we said we had more than 250 systems out there now. We, again, after the end of Q1, said that both orders and revenue for timsTOF, again, grew 30% or greater in the first quarter year-over-year. And we had sized it at certainly north of $50 million by now.

North of 5-0?

On an annualized rate, sorry, I don't want to make quarters and the years. Yes. We have -- yes, that was as of last year's data, greater than $50 million.

Got it. Okay. Interesting. And then we touched upon spatial already, but obviously, a lot more to go deeper at the Investor Day there. I'm happy to go through some more now. But there's a lot within Accelerate 2.0.

Well, we have Mark here, so he can certainly give you more of a business impact there as well on the spatial side. I mean at a very high level, I think you're seeing us enter somewhat later than other companies but with very differentiated technology that in many cases is way ahead and not necessarily achievable for others. So I think we -- we're making a really big play, and we're not doing it with Me2 technology. It starts at a lower level, just like in 2017, we had no timsTOF revenue or it was almost negligible. So it will take a little bit of time until it's needle moving, but it's a big plan.

Yes. Mark, do you want to comment at all on how we think about the potential ramp in your spatial portfolio, like what -- typical evaluation periods, like could this business be a $100 million business in 2 years? Or just how do we think about the potential size of this business, really large TAM, but what's realistic over the next couple of years?

Yes. Yes. And I don't like putting an exact time frame on it because it's all high growth, right? And so you kind of pick your high-growth slow. I mean it will be high-growth rate for us. It is coming of a small number. Like Frank said in the spatial proteomics, we have a late start. We've taken a lot of care to get it right. We're quantitative on the ChipCytometry. And then in Acuity Spatial Genomics, right, it's new. It's a whole new frontier. So it puts a lot of high variability. But without pegging number of years to it, we do see this as being in the high 10s, $100 million business. I didn't get too specific, Dan, on -- because I don't think it's really knowable too much, how long it will take us to get there, whether that's 3 or 4 years or 5 or 6 years. But yes, we see this as a business that can get to about $100 million.

Got it. Okay. Frank, I want to move on. I mean there's so much to dig in on Accelerate. There's a lot of other exciting growth opportunities. But I do want to get into a little bit more maybe tactical on the business and things like that. But maybe you could -- maybe another question I ask before we shift to that like within Accelerate 2.0, I'm sure you could speak for hours about all the new opportunities in there. What would you highlight as where investors should be pointing their scope if they wanted to dig in and kind of do some analysis for Bruker about what the opportunity is? Like, what's the next area that is going to have the biggest impact over the next, whatever, 2, 3, 4, 5 years for Bruker?

Yes. I mean the 2 very, very large opportunities and possible really breakout opportunities that are totally historical are proteomics and spatial biologies, spatialomics. Those are the 2 very big ones. Of course, in proteomics we do include the functional structural biology by ultra-high field NMR. Now that won't be a $10 billion or $1 billion business for that matter, but it can be -- it could also -- it has very, very good growth rates, very good margins. And that's part of our overall proteomic story. And we've talked about microbiology and molecular diagnostics. That's our third really big opportunity that is further ahead than the others. We know about applied and biopharma, it had a very good trend. Biopharma during the pandemic year 2020 and continues to grow nicely now, as you would expect, with a very good comeback, also in the applied and industrial markets. Maybe the one thing that I'd highlight because it's been so strong and continues to be so strong. And investors -- maybe not -- investors also have an interest in its non-life science. It's the semiconductor and microelectronics, which, again, is a great growth driver for us last year, more than 30% growth has very good incremental margins. And Mark can actually comment on that a little bit as well. That's really been terrific for us. And we think the trends there, not only the macroeconomic trends in that space, which we all know are very, very strong for many reasons, but also the technological trends. Maybe Mark could comment on semiconductor...

Sure. Yes. Sure.

Yes, we grew very strongly from 2019 and to 2020. So during COVID, we really expanded quite a bit. And then we're off to a great start in 2021. As Frank commented on the earnings call. And it's really being fueled by -- initially got fueled by everybody moving towards digital due to COVID, right? Everybody is waiting on 5G, and that was to be the growth driver, but this 5G got a little bit delayed, what took over was this massive investment in digital infrastructure that occurred. And so that's now still continuing into 2021, and it goes into high demand into everything around us, right, the Internet of Things. It goes into automotive, it goes into car devices, it goes into camera chipsets. It's really been around semiconductor for quite a while, usually get some segments up. Memory is up, while logic is one of those few times where all drivers of semi [Audio Gap] that's hitting on all cylinders. And that ranges from front end, front end-of-line type wafer metrology to packaging type devices. So it's really -- we're experiencing pretty strong growth in semi. Yes.

And I mean, historically, that business for you has been kind of -- I mean, obviously, you're going to have higher highs and higher lows, I guess, historically, right? It sounds like for the next couple of years, I mean, we can't look out too far, but it sounds like in the next 12, 24 months, seems to be in a real strong upturn. I mean, obviously, you're coming off -- probably was a strong year, and you're still having strong growth this year. How do we think about the durability or the kind of level of growth that could be sustained given what you're seeing in semis?

Yes. Yes, that's right because semi slowed the cycle, through those cycles, you see this average compound annual growth rate, right? It just -- the averages actually keeps going from -- according to the last couple of decades. And so it gets into these multiyear cycles. I'd say that the cycles are dampening out, by the way, because of how the supply chain has changed. It used to be dominated by one of the companies that dictated what happened on the core processors. Now it's being dictated more by the end device manufacturers. And so that's actually dampening out the cycles a bit. So there's some cyclicality, of course, in semi. But yes, we're seeing the growth that we saw from '19 and '20 and 2021, that's got a lot of good factors behind it for it to continue here.

Okay. Good. All right. So maybe, Frank, I know [ 1Q ] order booking to BSI, I think we grew like mid-teens. So just walk us through -- I know your business, you didn't have a lot of visibility on, just given the size of the instrument business at Bruker. So just kind of walk us through a little bit about like what types of bookings growth do you envision through this year? And how we think about the backlog that's in place today? And how much confidence that gives you in your full year guidance?

Right. We didn't consume much or any backlog, which -- we had good backlog going into the year. And because our bookings were stronger than expected, and were really very healthy in Q1. We continue to be in that very favorable position going into Q2. And at least the early April data looked like it was going to continue. It is pretty broad-based recovery, but not universal. I mean -- so the industrial side really look pretty healthy, certainly in many countries, so driven by China, but everywhere else, industrial and industrial research, where our tools play a lot of role, and Including also applied market supply, food analysis and similar. So those all really quite strong in our macroeconomically more sensitive divisions like infrared, mid-infrared, Bruker Optics, Bruker -- the X-ray business. They all had very healthy order growth and also good revenue growth in Q1. And we believe that will continue for some time. I mean we -- if pulling out of the 2008, 2009 financial downturn is any indication within a year or so, these divisions then had multiple years of very strong growth, sometimes exceeding that even of the life science tools or biopharma. So we are pretty optimistic there. As you know, for us, academia, academic and academic medical centers, including government research, is a very, very large market. And there, I'd say the recovery is still an even strong recovery in China, very strong recovery in Europe. Also a lot of focus on proteomics in both of these markets. And the U.S., there's a lot of optimism, but maybe not that much funding that's coming through in orders. So it's improving as well, but I'd say it's delayed relative to Europe or China. I think in the U.S., everybody is very optimistic as no matter how the negotiations in Washington will pan out, it looks likely that NSF and NIH will either get a very large or a very, very large increase in funding. So -- but however, one should not underestimate the time lines in that until that gets allocated to -- until that get negotiated and allocated to programs and funding rounds, and until we get orders may not be till late in the year, and that may actually be a good growth driver for us next year. So -- and Japan and India, they're -- for totally different reasons, they're -- I would say they're still really quite weak. Nonetheless, even though the academic recovery is uneven, for us, the academic segment in Q1, orders and bookings have seen very strong growth, even though it's not even a full and global recovery yet with U.S. lagging and some of these other countries also. Within, of course, academia, in many ways, there's tens of billions of funding worldwide. So there are enormously large oceans, if you like, for us of funding. And how they get allocated is much more important for us than whether the tide goes up 2% or 5% or whatever. So the allocation towards proteomics to where it may rival, eventually the investment in genomics, which is probably also still growing. But of course, it had its enormous s-curve growth over the last 15 years. And I think this is the time for proteomics and spatial biology. I really see that enormous growth there in the next decade or -- and it's already started, it's not only at some point in the future. We're well into that accelerating because it is so important for disease biology and for biology. But now that it's becoming really feasible and with throughput and depth and sensitivity in an unbiased way, I think it's just -- it's an opportunity that is comparable historically to what Illumina created and also faced from 15 years ago. History never repeats itself exactly, but these are very large historical opportunities. So I think the excitement about the investment community in proteomics and spatial biology directionally are completely -- make complete sense. I think those will be the -- some of the hottest or if not the most important fields in the next decade?

Interesting. Well, I know we're 3 minutes past. So we suppose to wrap it up. Maybe this is one final one since we started late, if you don't mind. I mean, there's so much to get to which we didn't get to. This is more of a short-term tactical question, Frank, and I'll just ask you because I think there's an expectation that after the really strong first quarter, even though you took up guidance for the second quarter that you're up against such an easy comp, if you average last year versus this year, it would imply that it's fairly up. I mean, you've got 14% base growth, against minus 14% last year, if we strip out COVID. So it's kind of like a little bit north of flat on that average versus you're up 7% in 1Q. So just wondering, is there any reason why things might not continue at that stacked pace? Or is a stacked way maybe just a wrong way to look at Bruker because I think expectations will be out, Bruker is going to really come through with a really strong second quarter. So I just want to understand.

If you recall, there were a couple of things. In the first quarter we had 2 gigahertz class systems in revenue. In the second quarter. We said there won't be any, just from timing reasons. 2 fell into Q1 more fall into Q3 and Q4, according to our estimates and not into Q2. So yes, that can make a few percentage points in any given quarter. I don't think it matters for the year or anything like that or for the long-term growth rates. But yes, that's why we had said that the growth rate may not be quite as high as in Q1 or the margins may not be quite as high as in Q1. So -- but those are just -- we've given some color on that, if you like, and -- but I mean, this is just quarterly timing, doesn't really -- so those some very short-term tactical predictable effects, right? I think we'll still have a very good second quarter, but maybe not quite as -- not quite matching the numbers of the Q1, which had -- if you like, they're not special effects because that's part of our core business. But in terms of timing, the first quarter, a few things aligned very nicely. And Q2 will be strong, but maybe not everything adds up on top of that.

Okay. Well, listen, we didn't get to a lot, but this is a great overview, Mark, thank you as well. Obviously, we got to dig deep in the space. So we certainly look forward to the Investor Day coming up in the middle of June. So Frank, Mark and Miroslava, thanks for participating, and have a great rest of the conference.

Yes. Thank you.

Thank you.

Dan, thanks for your terrific research, always good reading your other stuff. And thanks for having us.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Thanks. Bye-Bye.

Thanks. Bye-bye.