When Invitrogen recruited General Electric Medical Systems executive Gregory Lucier to be its new CEO in May 2003, it looked like the biotechnology toolmaker was ready to take some lessons out of the big corporate textbook. Years in top positions at the old-economy giant had imbued Lucier with ideas such as financial discipline and operational efficiency, which don't always come naturally to companies pushing the cutting edge of science. Perhaps most importantly, however, the new CEO was schooled in the art of the deal, GE-style, and ready to step up the pace of the acquisition run on which Invitrogen had already embarked.