Novel 104-well microplate for Tecan’s Freedom EVO®

Männedorf, Switzerland, September 9, 2010 –  The ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology® (ARUP), Salt Lake City, USA, has chosen the Freedom EVO liquid handling platform for automating RIA and ELISA assays, developing a novel 104-well microplate to increase sample throughput and simplify its workflow.

The development of the 104-well plate stemmed from a need for additional sample capacity when running radioimmunoassay (RIA). Mark Herrmann, Research Scientist, of ARUP’s advanced technology group, explained: “The samples are extracted in 96-well format. We realized that having extracted the full 96 samples we would need an additional two positions to accommodate the RIA control samples.” Tanya Sandrock, Research Scientist, of ARUP’s endocrinology R&D department continued: “This is a task that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is extremely labor intensive, so automation is very important.”

An extra column was incorporated by making custom hardware to accommodate additional tubes and strip plates which allowed automation on the Freedom EVO, significantly decreasing the time taken to run an assay. ARUP now plans to look at other assays to see where else the 104-well plate may be used to benefit the clinical laboratory. Mark concluded: “The 96-well format has been around for many years and is an integral part of the laboratory, but sometimes a little bit more is needed and the 104-well plate overcomes this problem. Tecan’s engineers were very open to this new challenge, and worked with us to achieve our goal.”

To find out more on Tecan’s Freedom EVO workstations, visit www.tecan.com/freedomevo
 

To find out more on ARUP, visit www.aruplab.com/Research&Development/research_main.jsp
 

For more information please contact

Tecan Trading AG
Tanja Kaiser
Seestrasse 103
CH-8708 Männedorf

Tel +41 (0)44 922 81 11
Fax +41 (0)44 922 81 12

info@tecan.com
www.tecan.com

About Tecan

Tecan (www.tecan.com) is a leading global provider of laboratory instruments and solutions in biopharmaceuticals, forensics, and clinical diagnostics. The company specializes in the development, production and distribution of instruments and automated workflow solutions for laboratories in the life sciences sector. As an original equipment manufacturer, Tecan is also a leader in developing and manufacturing OEM instruments and components that are then distributed by partner companies. Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the company has manufacturing, research and development sites in both Europe and North America and maintains a sales and service network in 52 countries. In 2009, Tecan generated sales of CHF 392 million (USD 361.2 million; EUR 259.6 million). Registered shares of Tecan Group are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange (TK: TECN/Reuters: TECZn.S/ ISIN CH0012100191).