Zurich, Switzerland, 15 May 2003: Tecan, a leading player in the Life Sciences supply industry, today announced the launch of the HS 400 Hybridization Station, a compact version of Tecan's HS 4800 system launched last year. Designed for researchers who need to carry out a modest number of experiments per run, the fully automated HS 400 significantly improves the reproducibility of microarray results. It is suitable for many applications in genomics, proteomics and drug discovery settings, including key applications such as gene expression profiling, gene regulation, pharmacogenomic studies, identification of new drug targets, and toxicology studies.

Developed for researchers who wish to perform a limited number of experiments per run, the HS 400 enables fully automated hybridization of up to four microarray slides. For higher throughputs, Tecan's HS 4800 can process up to 48 microarray slides. Slide loading is facilitated by the use of Tecan's unique slide holders that permit four slides to be loaded simultaneously. Incubations for the HS 400 may be performed in the range 4-85 °C. True parallel processing guarantees exact and reproducible incubation and wash times. The HS 400 offers efficient liquid agitation and on-board slide drying to maximize the quality of the results and shorten hybridization times. The HS 400 Hybridization Station can be operated via the integrated touch-screen-module or from an external PC. For enhanced throughput or to process different protocols, multiple HS 400 systems can be operated from a single PC.

Dr Achim Wehren, Marketing Manager of Business Area Biopharma at Tecan, commented: "The fully automated HS 400 Hybridization Station has been introduced to meet the growing need for reproducible microarray processing of smaller industrial and academic laboratories." He added: "The HS 400 Hybridization Station is the latest addition to Tecan's Gene Expression Suite which also includes the LS Series Laser Scanner and the GenePaint system. Together with the HS 4800 Hybridization Station launched last year, Tecan now offers a full range of solutions meeting all throughput requirements for automated microarray processing."  

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