Scienion of Berlin received a European patent in July 2003 for a new hybridisation chamber; hardware improves biochip experiments
Scienion, complex manufacturer of biochip products, hardware and services, has been granted a European patent for its newly developed micro-hybridization chamber.
The primary innovation behind patent EP 1286771 is a sandwich hybridization method featuring a special sealing material, simple chamber handling and significantly increased sample throughput in the chip laboratory.
Hybridisation, for instance as an important part of a genetic engineering array experiment, consists in bringing DNA or RNA fragments into contact with complementary, matching sequences of a test material under prescribed conditions and then assessing their reactions and or interactions in image and data analyses.
The innovation is a refinement of the chamber already in use at Scienion under the product name Scihybchamber and serves as a tool for the generation of highly reproducible hybridisation results of glass microarrays.
It allows reactions to be performed with fluorescent-dyed nucleic acid under constant and defined conditions.
The patented sample chamber consists of a carrier plate and a cover plate which are separated and held together by a dividing strip of liquid-proof film running around their edges.
The separating layer can be reduced to a minimal thickness so that the volume of the sample chambers is equal to the amount of a test solution on a conventional Dann chip with a separate cover plate.
The advantage over the normal chip is a stable and sealed experimental arrangement and highly reproducible results.
"The main attraction of the invention is its sandwich structure," according to Scienion chairman Holger Eickhoff.
"The cover plate not covers, but also serves as the carrier plate for another sample arrangement.
"Thus two slides are hybridised face-to-face and incubated with one test so that two experiments can be performed at the same time, doubling the sample throughput.
"More data points per test at the same cost, and less deviation thanks to identical experimental conditions are significant advantages of this procedure".
The invention is not restricted to any particular format; the size of plates can be tailored to any experimental conditions given.
A further advantage of the patented solution is the special material used for the sealing film.
Not only does it make clamps and fixtures superfluous, but it prevents any cracking or detachment of the two glass carrier plates on which the arrays are mounted.
The sample chambers are so well sealed that they can be immersed in water, used over a wide range of reaction temperatures up to 80C, and guarantee constant, optimum reaction conditions throughout the array experiment.
"We are currently modifying the Scihybchamber as it has been implemented to date and will soon equip it with the features of the patent.
"Scienion customers then will profit from the advantages of this patented hardware thanks to the simple operation of its chambers, and because it increases the efficiency of array experiments by making reproducible results possible and considerably increasing throughput in chip laboratories," says Eickhoff".
"With this innovation we are emphasising once more our new competence as a complex provider of biochip products, technology and services."
