Corning Introduces Integrated Liquid-Handling Accessory for the Epic^® System

Corning Incorporated today announced the introduction of an automated liquid-handling accessory (LHA) that integrates with the Corning^® Epic^® System for high-throughput label-free assays.

"Corning developed this innovative accessory to meet the increasing demand for integrated liquid-handling capability with label-free assays," said Ron Verkleeren, business director, Corning Epic System. "This new accessory provides our Epic customers with the added benefit of automated liquid handling and plate stacking in an easy-to-use, compact footprint."

The Epic LHA includes a 384-well pipettor, a microplate stacker that can handle up to 20 lidded 384-well microplates and an automated tip wash station. The liquid-handling system has been designed to maintain thermal stability in order to eliminate artifacts from laboratory temperature fluctuations.

The Corning Epic System is the world's first high-throughput label-free drug discovery system. It uses patented optical biosensor technology to perform label-free biochemical and cell-based assays. The system is sensitive enough to measure the cell response from endogenous receptor expression on primary or non-engineered cell lines, along with protein/drug direct binding events in biochemical assays. It has been sold and deployed to customer sites in North America, Europe and Asia since its launch in 2006.

"The addition of the LHA to our product portfolio is evidence of our commitment to meet customer needs and to maintain our leadership in label-free detection," Verkleeren added.

Corning has built an extensive patent portfolio related to the Epic System and label-free optical biosensor technology, including the acquisition of exclusive rights to U.S. Patent 5,738,825, a fundamental patent related to optical based biosensors in a microplate format.

The Epic System and new LHA will be on display in the Corning booth (#907) at the Society for Biomolecular Sciences (SBS) Annual Conference and Exhibition, April 6-10 in St. Louis, Mo.