Product category:
Workstations
News Release from: Perkin Elmer LAS (UK) | Subject: ProteinArray Workstation
Edited by the Laboratorytalk Editorial
Team on 07 June 2002
Protein workstation details revealed
Claimed to be the first of its kind, this workstation fully automates the processing of microscope slide-based protein microarrays
PerkinElmer Life Sciences disclosed details of its new ProteinArray Workstation, said to be the first workstation to completely automate the processing of microscope slide-based protein microarrays The ProteinArray Workstation was developed as part of a collaborative development agreement with NextGen Sciences
This article was originally published on Laboratorytalk on 19 Apr 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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The ProteinArray Workstation employs a unique microfluidics system, full software control interface and bar code tracking capability for future integration into PerkinElmer's other protein microarray technologies (spot array printers, scan array slide scanners, and the HydroGel 3D protein microarray substrate).
Key to its operation is its ability to automate almost any protein microarray assay.
A ProteinArray Workstation composed of one ProteinArray processor can process up to 12 protein microarrays with assay times of 1-2 hours, depending on the type of assay used.
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The system can be further expanded to process up to 48 protein microarrays using a maximum of four ProteinArray processors per workstation.
The system has been developed to use very low sample volumes (75µl), which is particularly important where sample amounts are small.
The workstation has the unique capability for automated sample introduction to enable totally unattended operation, and can inject up to two separate samples per protein microarray.
The first sample could, for example, be the analyte and the following sample the second antibody of a specific sandwich assay pairing.
The system has been developed with an on-line reagent lending facility, which saves reagent preparation time and provides for gradient washing capability, allowing for the optimisation of washing stringency for each assay performed.
An additional unique capability of the system is the automation of the tyramide signal amplification (TSA) chemistries from PerkinElmer Life Sciences.
TSA employs an enzyme-mediated detection method that uses the catalytic activity of horseradish peroxidase to generate high-density labelling of a target protein, the detection of which can be significantly amplified.
This facility is particularly important where the proteins of interest are in low abundance and not detectable without this 10-to-100 fold increase in signal amplification.
By automating the TSA chemistry, the ProteinArray Workstation saves many hours of incubation and washing steps, and removes variability from the assay procedure.
The ProteinArray Workstation has been validated for a number of key assays, including protein expression analysis, selection of content and high specificity binders, antibody profiling, and protein-protein interaction studies.
These microarray-based assays are key high-throughout methodologies that will be used in the generation of proteomics information, acceleration of the drug discovery process and, in the future, for clinical and diagnostic applications.
"The ProteinArray Workstation is the most flexible, reproducible and fully automated system for processing multiple protein microarrays," said Paul Gillyon, vice president and general manager of biomics, PerkinElmer Life Sciences.
"It is an excellent and timely addition to our product portfolio, and completes our suite of technologies for protein microarray-based applications.".
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