Flow-Thru Technology
At the heart of Axela’s Flow-Thru technology is the single-use TipChip consumable. The TipChip is a disposable device consisting of a 6.5 mm square chip mounted on a plastic tube. The chip is made of porous silicon with >200,000 microchannels. A single capture probe sight occupies approximately 70 microchannels. Within each microchannel is a three dimensional matrix where molecular interactions occur as target solutions are repeatedly passed back and forth through the channels. This approach facilitates the interaction between target molecules and immobilized probes, resulting in 3 to 4 times faster hybridization or binding.
Figure 2. A close up view of the TipChip microarray channels.
Features of the TipChip Arrays are:
- Ideal for automated multiplex analysis of gene and protein expression
- Designed to contain up to 576 spots per chip (“features”)
- Depending on the number of replicates and controls, each microarray can provide quantitative data on120 or more different biomarkers.
- Up to eight TipChip arrays can be run on the Ziplex system simultaneously, with a robot arm processing the TipChip arrays through a series of the microplate wells
- Binding activity on each feature is detected by chemiluminescence using a CCD (charge-coupled device) camera thereby providing sensitive detection with limited background signal