Ultra low level liquid handling system allows the aspiration and dispensing of single cells or low amount of cells for a variety of cell-based assays in functional genomics and drug development
Scienion's Sciflexarrayer, an ultra low level liquid handling system, allows the aspiration and dispensing of single cells or low amount of cells for a variety of cell-based assays in the field of functional genomics and drug development.
Scienion's technology for high content screening provides a unique solution to perform multiple cell-based assays in nanoliter drops, thereby increasing assay speed and reducing costs significantly.
Holger Eickhoff, CEO of Scienion, states: "Systems for the miniaturisation and automation of cell-based assays are in growing demand within pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
"With our ultra low level liquid handling system Sciflexarrayer we enable scientists to handle single cells or low numbers of cells".
Using the Sciflexarrayer, the Laboratoire Biopuces in Grenoble, France, developed a 'DropChip' cell array on a glass slide for DNA and siRNA transfection combined with drug screening (Schaack et al, NanoBiotechnology, volume 1, 2005, 183-189).
Beatrice Schaack from Laboratoire Biopuces at the CEA (French Atomic Energy Commission) states: "Using the Sciflexarrayer, less than 100 cells per assay can be tested, a nano-amount of drugs can be tested and single-cell phenotypes can be analysed after contact with nucleic acids or chemicals".
Scienion's recent presentation of the Sciflexarrayer at LabAutomation 2006, the world's leading conference and exhibition on emerging laboratory technologies in Palm Springs, California, generated great interest among the participants followed up by explicit inquiries of potential customers, it says.
Upcoming events with the opportunity to find out more about the Sciflexarrayer and its various applications are Screening Europe in Prague, Czech Republic, 20-22 February, and Analytica in Munich, Germany, 24-28 April 2006.
Scienion is a Berlin-based life science in the field of parallel bioanalytics.
Customers include pharma and biotech companies as well as academic research institutions.
Founded in December 2000 as a spin-off of the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics, the company was originally focused on biochip platform technologies.
The Sciflexarrayer dispensing system was launched in 2003 and allows the aspiration of ultra low level liquid volumes from different reservoirs and contact-free micro drop delivery in the picoliter range onto a variety of carriers.
Laboratoire Biopuces at the CEA (French Atomic Energy Commission): Beatrice Schaack is coordinating a project funded by the European Community for the evaluation of cell-based assays in drops for toxicological studies.
The aim of the 'Toxdrop' two years project is to develop a cell-on-chip technology allowing the monitoring of various phenotypes illustrating cytotoxicity which can be characterised in highly parallel cell-based reactions on a glass slide.
The surface of this biochip achieves the necessary precision in the formation of the cellular nano-drops and enables the high content analysis of cell cultures based on high fluorescent microscopy detection as well as mass spectrometry phenotypic signatures.
