SAW Instruments Launches New sam®X Acoustic Biosensor at MipTec 2011

SAW Instruments GmbH, developer of innovative biosensor technology for life sciences research in biotech and academia, has held the European launch of the sam®X acoustic biosensor at MipTec, Basel, Switzerland (20-22 September). sam®X is the latest high-end addition to the sam® range of acoustic biosensors, featuring eight analysis channels and adaptable routing that expands the workflow options available for increased power and flexibility.

The new system uses SAW’s proven proprietary Surface Acoustic Wave technology to detect mass binding and protein conformational changes on whole cells. Unlike many similar detection platforms, SAW’s range of sam® acoustic biosensors do not require complex labelling methods, are real-time rather than equilibrium and can be used to investigate living cells rather than fixed cells or purified proteins, providing a faster and more insightful method of analysis.

The new sam®X has two sensor chips for higher-end users, rather than the single chip of existing sam®5 models, increasing the number of channels to eight, further facilitating the parallel processing of samples. Using sophisticated fluidics, each channel can by utilised independently or via sequential combinations of 4 x 2, 2 x 4 or 1 x 8 channels. This optimises user workflow, regardless of whether discrete or common reagents need to be delivered to particular sensor chip positions.

In addition, different ligands can now be immobilized on-line at each chip position automatically, without the need for time-consuming, off-line protein loading. This approach is ideal for directly quantifying the amount of protein bound to the sensor chip surface, giving more accurate and reliable results.

Dr Markus Perpeet, Managing Director of SAW, commented: “We are very excited to introduce users to the sam®X, which further extends the flexibility offered by our range of biosensors. The new system facilitates more complex assay design and can be easily adapted to meet the needs of each user, while increasing throughput speed and accuracy. It is particularly well suited to providing binding constants and kinetics data for ligands binding to membrane targets on cells, while results are obtained significantly faster than those from equilibrium-based methods.”

For more information on the sam®X and other SAW systems, visit the company article page.