Fisher Adds GenTel® Thin-Film Nitrocellulose Slides to Its Portfolio
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Pierce Biotechnology, a unit of Fisher Biosciences, has contracted with GenTel BioSurfaces of Madison, Wis., to distribute GenTel’s PATH™ brand thin-film nitrocellulose slides and has licensed the use of GenTel technology in developing protein arrays for life-science research and drug discovery.
GenTel slides are designed for protein-array applications, including the profiling of disease biomarkers to improve the safety and efficacy of drugs.
GenTel applies an ultra-thin nitrocellulose film to a standard 3" x 1" glass slide. This film is 50 times thinner than conventional nitrocellulose slides and offers significant improvements over traditional glass slides.
“These slides have higher binding capacity than traditional glass slides and lower background fluorescence than traditional nitrocellulose slides,” said Leland Foster, chief executive officer of Fisher Biosciences.
“The combination of higher capacity and lower background fluorescence results in increased sensitivity with fluorescent-detection systems.” In addition, GenTel slides are compatible with Pierce chemiluminescent-detection systems.
“We believe our relationship with Pierce is a perfect fit and in line with our business plan and core business of multiplex immunoassays. This agreement marks a significant milestone for GenTel since it will help us access the life-science markets,” said Dr. Robert Negm, vice president of business development at GenTel.
In developing products with GenTel technology, Pierce will focus initially on building on its existing SearchLight® multiplex protein-profiling systems.
These products will offer efficiency for customers conducting microarrays, whether in academic research or drug discovery.
Microarray systems using GenTel technology enable researchers to simultaneously measure the expression of up to 25 proteins in one experiment. This can be particularly valuable to researchers using siRNA to map protein pathways.
“The combination of slide-based arrays with our existing SearchLight products will provide seamless integration for customers who want to migrate from low- to high-throughput assays,” said Foster.
