Bio-Rad Laboratories's technical bulletin 5534A describes results of the testing of the BioOdyssey Calligrapher MiniArrayer, which is used for the printing of protein microarrays
The widespread application of microarray technology to clinical research and clinical trials requires the ability to assess the technical and quality aspects of robotic devices that are used to construct the arrays.
Instruments approved for use in human clinical diagnostic laboratories must undergo extensive quality assessments, including documentation of accuracy, precision, linearity, and sensitivity for a given assay.
As in a clinical setting, it is necessary to understand the capabilities and limitations of a robotic microarray printing device.
Bio-Rad's bulletin 5534A provides an analysis of the issues associated with microarray printing and offers testing results of the BioOdyssey Calligrapher MiniArrayer that can be used to assess microarray printing results.
Along with a detailed introduction, the six-page bulletin uses diagrams, tables, and graphics to provide an extensive description of methods used in the evaluation.
Results of the evaluation confirm that the BioOdyssey Calligrapher MiniArrayer is technically capable to print reverse-phase microarrays (RPPAs) in batches up to 16 slides.
Inter- and intra-slide CVs were <10% as evidenced through printing standard curves in replicates.
Carryover contamination was not evident.
Based on these precision and carryover experiments, the BioOdyssey Calligrapher MiniArrayer meets the technical quality characteristics required for printing small sample sets of RPPAs.
Bulletin 5534A is available either from a local Bio-Rad sales office or it may be downloaded.
