Genalyte Teams With Scienion To Provide Sciflexarrayer Dispensers For Its Maverick™ Detection Platform And Launches Custom Chip Spotting Service

SAN DIEGO and BERLIN, Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Genalyte, Inc., a life sciences company developing and commercializing innovative next generation multiplexing technology, and Scienion AG, a life science company developing microarray and ultra-low volume liquid handling systems, today announced an agreement under which Genalyte will market Scienion's sciFLEXARRAYER™ automated liquid dispensers along with Genalyte's multiplexed Maverick^TM Detection System.

The Maverick platform uses a proprietary silicon chip containing arrays of photonic microring sensors to simultaneously analyze multiple proteins, DNA or biomarkers from a single small sample, using a one-step process that automates the washes, incubations, reagents and processing steps associated with other technologies.

Scienion's sciFLEXARRAYERs are automated, non-contact dispensing systems for ultra-low volume liquid handling of biological samples. Genalyte is offering customers the sciFLEXARRAYER S5, a robust production unit designed for low maintenance, long term use as a flexible and dependable tool for manufacturing high quality arrays.  Its integrated dispense control and auto-drop function provides users with an easy-to-use, walk-away solution for a variety of liquid dispensing applications.

"After a rigorous search for an automated liquid dispensing system with the precision needed to spot sample material onto the Maverick system's 30-micron rings, I am pleased to announce this agreement with Scienion," said Cary Gunn, CEO of Genalyte.  "The company's dependable, ultra low volume liquid handling dispensers allow for highly precise, contact-free drop spotting and are well suited for microarray based applications.  We now can offer our customers a comprehensive validated automated system for multiplexed detection and analysis."

Under the terms of the agreement, Genalyte will market the sciFLEXARRAYER S5 dispenser to its customers and Scienion will retain responsibility for installing and servicing the sciFLEXARRAYER.

Dr. Holger Eickhoff, CEO of Scienion AG, commented, "As a leading provider of advanced automated liquid dispensing systems, we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with multiplexing innovator Genalyte.  We view our products as highly complementary and look forward to a productive partnership."

Separately, Genalyte announced the launch of its Custom Spotting Service.  To provide scientists with maximum flexibility to design multiplex assay panels addressing their specific research needs, Genalyte is now offering a cost effective custom spotting service that will load proteins such as antibodies, peptides, biomarkers, cytokines and antigens supplied by customers onto Genalyte chips. The chips are then returned to the customer in the same ready-to-use chip array format used in Genalyte's off-the shelf multiplex assay kits, ready to be run on the Maverick Detection System. The Maverick multiplex system can deliver results from small samples of many types, including serum, plasma, culture media and whole blood.  For more information, visit www.genalyte.com/products/custom-chip-spotting/

The Maverick Detection System and its ENA 4 and ENA 6 Assay Kits are currently commercially available to researchers. The assays simultaneously screen for several of the most common autoantibodies found in autoimmune connective tissue disorders, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).  Assay kits for advanced SLE testing, rheumatoid arthritis and Type I diabetes are available under the Genalyte Technology Access program.  The simplified one-step workflow of the Maverick assays delivers accurate results in 15 minutes, and they can be run using very small volume samples from a variety of matrices, including serum and plasma. Semi-quantitative results are reported for each analyte, eliminating the need for reflex testing.  The Maverick platform has a large dynamic range and excellent sensitivity, with outstanding reproducibility.

For more information about Genalyte, the Maverick platform, the Maverick ENA 4 and ENA 6 Assay Kits, the Technology Access program and Genalyte's Custom Chip Spotting Service, visit www.genalyte.com.  Maverick assays are currently available for research use only.

The Lab-on-a-Chip World Congress will be held September 25-26, 2012 in San Diego, CA.  Information about Scienion and Genalyte products will be available at Booth 26.  Click here for more information.

About Genalyte
Founded in 2007, Genalyte, Inc. is commercializing the Maverick™ detection platform based on the company's revolutionary Microring Sensor Technology™ a new approach to multiplexing that leverages advances in silicon photonics to reduce or eliminate sample preparation, provide scalable multiplexing for both proteins and nucleic acids from a single small sample, and achieve excellent sensitivity and up to eight logs of dynamic range. 

About SCIENION
Scienion AG and its US subsidiary Scienion US, Inc. provide systems and services for the contact-free printing of biological and chemical agents for diagnostics, pharmaceutics, veterinary, plant and food analytics and research. Addressing the dynamically increasing needs for miniaturization and multiplex analyses, Scienion offers a unique technology portfolio that has been consequently expanded over one decade. Scienion provides flexible solutions for research and development whereas solutions for production purposes are rather customized. Systems and software are characterized by its versatility, precision and robustness. The company is a renowned specialist for ultra low volume liquid handling, particularly for the handling of precious and sensitive compounds of biological or chemical origin. Scienion's dispensers allow for contact-free and precise drop spotting in the pico- to micro-liter range and are optimally suited for microarray based analytics – as for tests with DNA, oligonucleotides, peptides, proteins, antibodies, glycans or for dispensing cells onto various substrates. The company operates from two sites in Germany, Dortmund and Berlin, and has a subsidiary in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. For more information, visit www.scienion.com.

Contacts:
Genalyte, Inc.
Martin Gleeson   
VP, Development & Applications
+1 858 750-4470            
[email protected]      

Media:
BLL Partners, LLC
Barbara Lindheim      
+1 212 584-2276                 
[email protected]   

SCIENION AG  
Almut Gebhard       
+49 (0)30 - 6392 1700       
[email protected]              

SOURCE Genalyte, Inc.