Q Chip launches new technology
Q Chip has developed technology that offers laboratory users greater precision when encapsulating aqueous molecular biology reagents within re-dissolvable polymer microspheres.
The MicroPlant hydrogel encapsulation technology is claimed to offers significant benefits over conventional reagent lyophilisation, such as ultra-low wastage, uniform dosing and morphology, and low process costs.
For clinical diagnostic assays in molecular biology processes, where false positives can have severe and expensive consequences, this MicroPlant hydrogel encapsulation technology is claimed to improve assay reliability.
MicroPlant allows both large and small volumes of solutions to be accurately aliquoted into sub-nanolitre droplets, which are converted to polymer beads. Crucially, the bead size variation is frequently less than 1%, which means extremely low assay variability. The MicroPlant platform is able to produce batches as small as 1,000 beads and up to 15 million x 96 well plates annually. The microfluidic chips used in the Microplant are cheap components that can be cleaned to prevent contamination, or simply disposed of in batch-type processes.
A distinctive advantage of the MicroPlant is its operating temperature flexibility. Each encapsulation procedure may be performed under optimum thermal conditions, ranging from +200°C to -30°C.