Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

OCT1 2012

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN) is the world's most widely read biotech publication. It provides the R&D; community with critical information on the tools, technologies, and trends that drive the biotech industry.

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Corporate Capabilities ADVERTORIAL Douglas Scientific D Dedicated To Making Our World a Better Place by Delivering Innovative Laboratory Automation ouglas Scientific is dedi- cated to making our world a better place by delivering innovative labo- ratory automation. Our vision is to see Array Tape™ become a ubiqui- tous media for medium- and high- throughput laboratory process- ing, driving more data at a lower cost. "The demand for genomic research and discovery is escalat- ing at breakneck speed, and we're poised to support it at Douglas Scientific. With Array Tape, we've enabled a 10-fold increase in labo- ratory screen throughput, while af- fecting an 80-90% cost reduction," says Dan Malmstrom President of Douglas Scientific. "That's a timely and disruptive paradigm shift to ad- dress pressing global challenges." Douglas Scientific began as a di- vision of Douglas Machine, Inc. in 2009, and was incorporated as a wholly owned company in 2010. The company provides patented Ar- ray Tape automation that enables laboratories around the world to rapidly process millions of samples per day. Markets Served Douglas Scientific 3600 Minnesota Street Alexandria, MN 56308 Phone 320.762.6888 Website www.DouglasScientific.com Date Founded 2009 Number of Employees 70 Agricultural biotechnology companies are at the forefront of adopting new high-throughput technologies. They use Array Tape for SNP genotyping to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of molecular plant breeding and product development. Array Tape helps agricultural biotechnol- ogy companies quickly respond to worldwide challenges including exponential population growth, changing weather patterns, and se- vere food shortages. "Food security is a ma- jor challenge in this world. By partnering with the best scientists, we know we can be part of the change that will feed a growing population and ultimately save millions of lives," says Malmstrom. Douglas Scientific's Array Tape platform has also been well received in human diagnos- tics, CROs and more. In just three short years, over 100 instruments have been deployed in laboratories worldwide. Douglas Scientific is optimizing the platform for additional appli- cations in pharmaceutical, animal health, and other bioscience markets using high-through- put screening. "When you have a flexible plat- form that is chemistry agnostic and reduces cost per data point, you begin to enable sci- entific discovery at a staggering pace," says Craig McLain, vice president, business opera- tions, "Homogeneous ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) processing and qPCR in Array Tape will revolutionize labs around the globe." Upcoming product launches open the door for high-throughput inline DNA extraction, pu- rification, and multiplexing in Array Tape. Capabilities The Array Tape platform, manufactured and sold by Douglas Scientific, provides an inline, modular, and highly automated system. Array Tape is a thin and flexible microplate replace- ment, serially embossed with reaction wells. Array Tape is available in standard (384- and 96-well) formats and custom well sizes and geometries. The equivalent of 200 microplates (384-well array) are spooled onto a single com- pact reel. Unique barcodes before and after each array ensure accurate identification of individ- ual samples during and after processing. The continuous reel-to-reel process flow is achieved with indexing holes that run along the edge of the Array Tape, accurately positioning and continuously feeding reaction wells through the Nexar (liquid-handling and assay processing system). Up to three reels of Array Tape then 68 | October 1, 2012 | genengnews.com | Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News move from the Nexar to the Soellex™ , a large batch thermal cycling of up to 230,000 samples in a single process run. The Araya, a fluorescent detection instrument, scans each 384-well array in 28 seconds. From there, the Intellics™ soft- ware system allows seamless analysis and inte- gration of data. Intellics provides a web-based dashboard for instrument monitoring from ei- ther an intranet site or through a secure internet site anywhere in the world. The Array Tape platform virtually elimi- nates manual handling and complex robotics required by microplate-based platforms. The flexible nature of the Nexar allows for inline in- cubation and detection modules with a variety of applications including homogeneous ELISA and qPCR processing resulting in true walk- away automation, laboratory efficiency, and freeing laboratory personnel for other work. Researchers confirm Array Tape's benefits when compared to microplate-based technol- ogy. On average, SNP genotyping laboratories are able to increase throughput to 400 arrays (384-well format) per system in an eight-hour day. Specifically, laboratories report reagent dispense and fluorescent reading are twice as fast in the Nexar and Araya instruments com- pared to microplate-based platforms. Contact Douglas Scientific for more information or visit our website: www.DouglasScientific.com. Q

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