Portrait™ 630 Reagent Multi-spotter Wins Technology Prize at MipTec 10th Anniversary Conference in Basel, Switzerland

The European Laboratory Robotics Interest Group (ELRIG) has selected the Labcyte Portrait 630 reagent multi-spotter as the winner of its annual Technology Prize, awarded this year at the MipTec 10th Anniversary Conference, held May 8-11, 2007 in Basel, Switzerland.

The award recognizes the most innovative product presented at the conference. A panel of independent judges selected the Portrait 630 system from among hundreds of products displayed by 114 vendors. The ELRIG is a not-for-profit organization, whose primary purpose is to provide a communication forum for members to increase their awareness of automation techniques and products used for scientific research, development or production. MipTec has evolved as the leading conference in Europe on enabling technologies in the drug discovery process. It combines a scientific program featuring scientific and technology experts with an accompanying exhibition.

The Portrait 630 reagent multi-spotter uses the Labcyte acoustic droplet ejection technology to bring automated reagent deposition to the new field of MALDI tissue imaging mass spectrometry (IMS). IMS links the label-free universal detection of mass spectrometry with the spatial information of molecular histology. IMS enables discovery in protein profiling, small molecule tracking, and other applications. The Portrait 630 reagent multi-spotter provides multi-step protocols, precise drop-on-drop positioning and flexible droplet timing, to automate sequential experiments such as proteolytic digests followed by matrix deposition. The Portrait 630 system enables users to optimize reaction conditions and crystal formation for more reproducible and higher quality mass spectra.