Tuesday 25 January 2011

Tecan launches HydroSpeed plate washer

Tecan has developed the HydroSpeed plate washer, an advanced system for optimized washing of cells, beads and ELISAs in 96- and 384-well formats. It offers full control over critical wash parameters via an intuitive touchscreen interface, with extra gentle drop-wise dispensing and tunable aspiration settings to help avoid loss of material and maximize assay efficiency.

The HydroSpeed features advanced Cell Protection settings for washing of adherent and loosely adherent cells, allowing the user to dial-in extra gentle wash parameters to suit their cells, microplates and application. The system’s innovative Anti–Clogging function takes the hassle out of ELISA washing by automatically rinsing and soaking the wash head when the system is idle between runs, and the instrument’s Easy X-change system allows rapid removal and replacement of wash heads for intense ultrasonic cleaning. The HydroSpeed uses a patent pending design with two magnets per well for high performance magnetic bead washing, offering fast bead settling and excellent recovery rates, and can also be equipped with a vacuum filtration module for processing of non-magnetic beads.

The HydroSpeed can be used in conjunction with Tecan’s Connect plate stacker for greater throughput efficiency, allowing semi-automated processing of up to 50 plates, or integrated into a Freedom EVO liquid handling platform to offer fully automated processing for cell-, bead- and ELISA-based assay workflows.

Tecan