Arrayjet launches new microarray spotter
modern, replaceable inkjet print head with over 100 nozzles to
deliver samples to the array surface. The non-contact technology
also has a unique replaceable inject print head for uniformity and
consistency.
The Aj100 uses conventional non-contact printers use between four and eight discrete piezo tips for dispensing. The Aj100 inkjet print head produces microarrays for morphology, uniformity, consistency and robustness.
The extra nozzles also give an additional advantage in that there is redundancy in the print head allowing spare capacity on every print run. The spotter therefore is suitable for academic and commercial researchers.
Standard pin-based microarray spotters often produce differentiation in print quality; those producing their own arrays will no longer have quadrants of the chip that have higher densities of macromolecules than others.
The core of Arrayjet's technology is the 'Connector Block', a proprietary liquid handling device, which will soon enable the management of up to 32 samples, feeding them into separate nozzles in the inkjet print-head simultaneously, without the risk of cross-contamination. This capability will provide the user with speed advantages over other printers on the market.
The Aj100 combines this with the capacity to handle six microtitre plates (96 or 384-well) and print onto 100 slides without user intervention, though more plates may be added manually during a run, up to 192 in total.
Duncan Hall, director of sales and marketing for Arrayjet said: "The Aj100 is forwards compatible - all of the planned improvements will be available as upgrades to the existing platform, extending its working life and protecting the investment."
"One significant planned upgrade is the addition of a microplate stacker to enhance throughput by summer 2005," he added.
Dr Douglas Roy, a molecular biologist at the University of Edinburgh, and co-founder of Arrayjet said: "With the technology of the Aj100, you can enhance the quality of your data due to the consistency and minimised array-to-array variation."
Many companies are moving toward integrated systems for carrying out cDNA analysis. For example, PerkinElmer Life Sciences is one of the companies that offer a complete package that provides the reagents, spotters, scanners, arrays and informatics software required for cDNA analysis.
