Invitrogen Adds Instrumentation Capability to Reagent Strength with Launch of Two New Devices

Invitrogen Corporation, a leader in life science research, today announced the introduction of two new instruments to complement technologies in its BioDiscovery business segment. The iBlot™ Dry Blotting system transfers proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose membranes in preparation for downstream analysis, while the iPrep™ purification instrument automates nucleic acid purification using Invitrogen's ChargeSwitch™ technology.

"Invitrogen has a history of supplementing our leading reagent platforms with instrumentation that is both efficient and accessible, starting with our pre-cast gel systems and moving through protein electrophoresis systems and our recently launched Qubit fluorometer," said Kip Miller, Senior Vice President of Invitrogen's BioDiscovery business. "With these new introductions, we are carrying forward this initiative--bringing significant improvement in the research process to every scientist. We are especially pleased to be, in the case of iPrep, launching our first internally-developed offering in the major instrumentation space."

Whereas traditional systems for transferring proteins from gels to membranes rely on complex buffering systems and layers of filter paper, iBlot uses two ion reservoir matrixes, allowing bufferless protein transfer in seven minutes, versus hours for traditional systems. With no need for buffers or an external power supply, this benchtop system has the potential to streamline a workflow that would typically take 24 hours to complete to less than eight hours. Complemented by products from Invitrogen subsidiaries Zymed, BioSource and Molecular Probes, iBlot enhances Invitrogen's comprehensive solutions for protein analysis.

Solidifying Invitrogen's position as an innovator in nucleic acid purification, iPrep builds upon the company's easy-to-use ChargeSwitch nucleic acid purification technology. The system utilizes pre-filled reagent cartridges and standardized protocols to extract genomic DNA from a wide variety of samples--including tissue and blood specimens and samples collected during forensics work. The iPrep eliminates labor-intensive steps in the DNA purification process, delivers consistent, highly pure DNA for downstream applications such as case work samples, paternity testing or clinical genotyping, and increases the success rate for isolating DNA from low quantity starting materials. Additionally, iPrep catalyzes Invitrogen's entry into new markets, most notably forensics, where automation of sample treatment is essential and molecular diagnostics. The company plans to leverage the instrument platform to accommodate additional reagent systems, further expanding its potential for market penetration.

"The iPrep and iBlot instruments represent our commitment to developing user-friendly benchtop instrumentation that complements our key reagent systems," explained Kornelija Zgonc, Vice President of Engineering and Instrumentation for Invitrogen. "By building out our instrumentation capabilities, we are able to offer our customers an even more complete approach to their applications than ever before."

Earlier this year Invitrogen introduced The Qubit™ Quantitation System, a new method for quantitation of DNA, RNA and protein samples. The minifluorometer provides more accurate and more sensitive quantitation of samples for molecular biology and biochemistry. Improved quantitation of samples after purification leads to better results downstream and less time wasted on suboptimal samples. Although Qubit™ is a sophisticated detection technology, the system is relatively inexpensive and the easy-to-use format can fit on any benchtop. This system exemplifies both the philosophy of making science more accessible and making innovation less costly that are at the core of Invitrogen's business.