Labcyte Awarded 27th U. S. Patent Describing Acoustic Transfer for the Preparation of Protein Microarrays
Labcyte Inc. announced the issuance of U.S. Patent 7,090,333 describing the use of acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) for the preparation of microarrays of proteins and peptides. ADE uses sound to move fluids eliminating all physical contact with the liquid being transferred. This disposes of the need for pin tools, pipettes and nozzles that are currently used to make protein arrays and are known to cause loss of protein due to adsorption on the device surfaces. According to Labcyte, ADE is also extremely precise with the coefficient of variation, the measure of precision, often less than a few percent even at the nanoliter and picoliter level. ADE can even transfer volumes as low as 25 femtoliters (0.000025 nanoliters).
"This broad patent expands the horizons for protein array preparation," said Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Elaine J. Heron. "While the challenges of producing DNA arrays have largely been addressed, protein arrays present new problems that have not been adequately solved. ADE solves these problems by eliminating the possibility of adsorption on the transfer device, which leads to variation in the amount of protein as well as cross contamination. "
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