Caliper Life Sciences Launches Microfluidic LabChip® DS Platform for UV/VIS Spectral Analysis of Nucleic Acid and Protein Samples

HOPKINTON, Mass., Jan. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALP) announced today that Caliper and Trinean, NV have agreed to a long-term, exclusive arrangement under which Caliper will distribute Trinean's DropSense platform under the name LabChip DS in North America.

With the LabChip DS, an automated UV/Vis spectral analysis platform, users can easily and accurately analyze the concentration levels of up to 96 nucleic acid and protein samples within a few minutes. The LabChip DS complements Caliper's existing LabChip GX which provides fluorescent, electrophoretic analysis of fragments of nucleic acids and proteins.

"Caliper is investing significant resources into developing new products, applications on our existing products, and third party collaborations, co-marketing and distribution agreements to further augment our aggressive move into the biotherapeutics and genomics markets," said Kevin Hrusovsky, President and CEO of Caliper Life Sciences. "Caliper has become a vendor and partner of choice for sequencing sample preparation tools, and we are very pleased to add Trinean's DropSense platform to the tools we offer to our customers in North America."

"The DropSense platform is a state-of-the-art polychromatic plate reader that provides pioneering concentration analysis of 0.5 to 3.0 microliter droplets of sample with substantial time savings and automation advantages to scientific researchers," said Marc Zabeau, CEO of Trinean. "Trinean is pleased to leverage Caliper's extensive commercial presence in the genomics and biologics markets in North America, as well as its experience in commercializing microfluidic technologies."

The LabChip DS complements Caliper's existing LabChip GXI and GXII platforms. The LabChip DS provides UV/Vis spectral analysis of the total concentration of nucleic acid or protein in a sample, whereas the GXI and GXII platforms provide size, quantification, and purity analysis of discrete fragments of nucleic acids and proteins in the sample. In a potential sequencing workflow, the LabChip DS is used for the initial concentration analysis of extracted genomic DNA. The genomic DNA would then be sheared using third party equipment, then size fractionated on a Caliper LabChip XT platform. Quality control analysis of the sheared DNA and constructed libraries would then be performed using the LabChip GXI platform to assess size, purity and amount of the DNA fragments.

In addition, preparation of samples for the LabChip DS platform can be performed on Caliper's liquid handling instruments, including the Sciclone® NGS Workstation, which is a robust, scalable platform that has been specifically customized for next generation sequencing methods, or Caliper's Zephyr® Genomics Workstation, which automates a broad range of standard molecular biology kits.

About Caliper Life Sciences

Caliper Life Sciences is a premier provider of cutting-edge technologies enabling researchers in the life sciences industry to create life-saving and enhancing medicines and diagnostic tests more quickly and efficiently. Caliper is aggressively innovating new technology to bridge the gap between in vitro assays and in vivo results and then translating those results into cures for human disease. Caliper's portfolio of offerings includes state-of-the-art microfluidics, lab automation & liquid handling, optical imaging technologies, and discovery & development outsourcing solutions. For more information please visit www.caliperLS.com.

About Trinean

Trinean, a spin-off from the University of Ghent and IMEC, Belgium, is a pioneer in automated micro volume spectroscopy systems. Trinean's first product is the DropSense®96, a multichannel spectrophotometer, that combined with disposable microfluidic microplates (DropPlate®16 and DropPlate®96), provides a fully automated workflow system for quick & precise spectral analysis of microliter droplets of DNA, RNA, protein or small compounds. Trinean is a privately-owned company and has been supported by substantial research and development grants from the Flemish government. For more information please visit www.trinean.com.

Caliper, LabChip, Sciclone, and Zephyr are registered trademarks of Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. and DropSense and DropPlate are registered trademarks of Trinean, NV.

SOURCE Caliper Life Sciences, Inc.