Scienion's Sciflexarrayer dispensing technology is optimally suited for the production of carbohydrate microarrays - important tools in investigating binding events that involve sugars.
The company's range of dispensing technology is said to be ideal for applications wherever contact-free precise handling of ultra-low volume liquids is needed.
Glycobiology plays an increasing role in life-sciences research as glycans are involved in many functions in the living cell.
Research in the glycomics arena is beginning to impact drug discovery, especially the development of carbohydrate-based vaccines.
Prof Peter H Seeberger from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam and his team aim at elucidating the role of complex oligosaccharides involved in biological process of medical relevance.
They are particularly interested in understanding the recognition events responsible for the interactions of oligosaccharides with proteins that control cell growth, cell differentiation, cell-cell-interactions, bacterial attachment to target cells and signalling events involving the extracellular matrix.
Seeberger said: 'We focus on the automated synthesis of different kinds of complex oligosaccharides and carbohydrate microarrays play an important role in various parts of our research activities - as versatile screening platforms and potential future diagnostic tools.
'After comparing different dispensing systems we decided on the Sciflexarrayer S3 as it meets our needs for the precise handling of small amounts of our substances and allows for the reproducible production of carbohydrate microarrays.'
