Invitrogen has announced the availability of Prodigy - an automated, research-use microarray system designed to simplify immunogenetic testing, including human leukocyte antigen (HLA) research.
The Prodigy system is an advanced DNA and protein analysis tool that simplifies and accelerates histocompatibility research, vaccine and drug development, and disease association studies.
The Prodigy system is a high-throughput, next-generation, sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe system that streamlines sample workflow for hybridising, detecting and analysing HLA markers in large-volume variation analysis and genotyping research studies.
HLA markers are cell-surface proteins that play a key regulative role in the human immune system, functioning as an alert mechanism when the body has been invaded by foreign proteins or molecules, such as bacteria, parasites and viruses.
Invitrogen said the Prodigy system is an advance in technologies for this type of research, providing scientists with a simplified workflow for cleaner, consistent and reproducible results, while reducing hands-on interaction with the system, resulting in decreased variability, errors and the need for repeat testing.
The Prodigy system features several technological advancements.
It has five-times the density capacity of current bead-based assays and is enabled by push-button, walk-away automation, allowing researchers to spend valuable time reviewing data or preparing more samples.
Prodigy is scalable to include multiplexing capability for more than 500 analytes, while providing high resolution, efficiency and reliability.
It is also capable of throughput that equates to approximately 290 genotypes in nine hours, and includes integrated software that simplifies data analysis and interpretation.
With capacity for more than 500 analytes, the Prodigy system is scalable to accommodate new alleles to be identified in the future, enabling it to be incorporated into existing infrastructure.
