Exhibit 99.1.   Press release dated June 10, 1996
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                                                               Press Release


       June 10, 1996                       Contact: Andrew Galligan
                                           Molecular Devices Corporation
                                           (408) 747 -3533

Release: Monday, June 10, 1996 at 5:30am Pacific Time

          MOLECULAR DEVICES ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF NOVELTECH SYSTEMS


Sunnyvale,  California  -  Molecular  Devices  Corporation  (NASDAQ:MDCC)  today
announced that it acquired NovelTech Systems, Inc., of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

NovelTech   Systems,   Inc.   designs,   develops,   manufactures   and  markets
high-throughput drug screening products. NovelTech's unique FLuorescence Imaging
Plate Reader  (FLIPR) is being  introduced to the  pharmaceutical  industry as a
tool for high-throughput screening using live cell targets.

Commenting  on the  acquisition,  Jim  Iuliano,  President  and CEO of Molecular
Devices,  said  "Noveltech  brings  an  innovative  fluorescence  capability  to
Molecular  Devices and will allow us to provide a more complete  solution to our
life science customers,  particularly in the areas of high-throughput  screening
and cell  analysis.  With  the  advent  of new  methods,  such as  combinatorial
chemistry,  for generating  huge libraries of novel compounds and the increasing
availability  through  genomics of new membrane  receptors and ion channels that
can be used as novel drug targets,  tools for  high-throughput  screening at the
live cell level are in increasing demand."

The purchase price for NovelTech of approximately $4.5 million will be paid in a
combination of $3.0 million in cash and $1.5 million in Molecular Devices Common
Stock.

Molecular  Devices  Corporation  designs,  develops,  manufactures  and  markets
proprietary, high-performance, bioanalytical measurement systems, and associated
consumable  reagents.  The  Company's  products  are  used  by  life  scientists
worldwide  for drug  discovery  and  development,  in a wide variety of pure and
applied  research,  and in a growing number of clinical  research  applications.
Molecular  Device's product  families,  including  MAXline  Microplate  Readers,
Threshold System,  and Cytosensor System, are designed to provide greater speed,
sensitivity,  and reproducibility  than traditional  instruments or methods. The
Company's  products  are  based  on  its  established  expertise  in  chemistry,
molecular and cell biology, software design, and systems engineering.