Second Biomek® Platform Awarded Premier Application Status by Affymetrix

Beckman Coulter, Inc. announced that its ArrayPlex application for automated Target RNA preparation on the Biomek® 3000 Laboratory Automation Workstation has received Premier Application Status from Affymetrix. This award allows Beckman Coulter to market and support the Biomek 3000 ArrayPlex automated solution to the Affymetrix customer base.

Premier status was previously awarded to Beckman Coulter's ArrayPlex application on the high-capacity Biomek FX automated liquid handling platform. The Biomek 3000 ArrayPlex system provides an alternative for Affymetrix customers in medium- to low-throughput applications.

To achieve Premier Application Status, Beckman Coulter has demonstrated that it meets Affymetrix' high quality standards. The ArrayPlex is a turnkey application that includes automated instrumentation, software and protocols on the Biomek FX or Biomek 3000 Laboratory Automation Workstations. The application uses the Agencourt® RNAClean® chemistry for post-reaction cleanup.

"This new agreement demonstrates the success we've had working with Affymetrix, the leading provider of arrays for gene expression analysis," commented Keith Roby, applications manager for Beckman Coulter. "We're pleased that we can now offer this solution with two throughput options."

"Affymetrix is committed to providing our customers with a broad portfolio of products and services to meet their growing and diverging research requirements," said Greg Fisher, Associate Director for systems and software at Affymetrix.

"The ArrayPlex 3'IVT application for automated RNA target prep on the Biomek 3000 system offers the same high level of consistency, flexibility, scalability and reduced FTE benefits as the Biomek FX, but on an instrument with a lower price point and smaller footprint. The ArrayPlex 3'IVT application on Biomek 3000 will provide our customer base with multiple instrumentation options on which to automate the target prep for 3'IVT,” Fisher added.