Fluxion Biosciences Launches the F1 Giga-Ohm Seal Plates for the IonFlux™ System

Fluxion Biosciences today announced that it has introduced F1 giga-ohm seal plates for the IonFlux automated patch clamp system. The newly launched F1 plates complement Fluxion’s existing 20-cell ensemble recording plates and are fully compatible with all IonFlux systems. Users can operate both plate formats interchangeably on either the IonFlux 16 or HT systems.

IonFlux F1 plates are the industry’s first polymeric patch plates to deliver giga-ohm seal performance. This breakthrough, utilizing Fluxion’s expertise in material science, surface treatments, and microfluidics, results in a tight “glass-like” patch seal that approximates traditional manual patch approaches. The introduction of this new plate format is intended to broaden the utility of the IonFlux System for applications where high fidelity recordings from individual cells are preferred. These include kinetic analysis, heterogeneous cell populations, endogenous expression systems (i.e. ex-vivo primary cells), and low-expression cells.

The IonFlux system provides functional characterization of ion channels by automating the traditional “patch clamp” technique. This allows compound screening for the promising yet challenging ion channel drug target class in a physiologically relevant context. The IonFlux automated patch clamp system combines flexibility and simplicity with time and cost savings, and is ideal for a range of ion channel assays requiring 10 to 10,000 or more assays per day. The IonFlux system utilizes an extremely compact plate reader format, making it ideal for users in both individual research labs and high throughput screening centers. A broad range of leading academic institutions and biopharmaceutical companies has adopted the IonFlux system globally, including Cornell University, University of Melbourne, University of Michigan, Pfizer, Novartis, Genentech, and Sanofi-Aventis. With the introduction of F1 giga-ohm seal plates, adoption of the IonFlux system into new applications and laboratories is anticipated to grow significantly.

“The IonFlux system with the original ensemble recording plates is a great solution for a wide range of screening and pharmacology studies”, noted Dr. Cristian Ionescu-Zanetti, Fluxion’s CTO. ”However, there are certain applications where individual cell recordings and giga-ohm seals are preferable. We listened to our customers and have responded with the development and introduction of these new F1 plates, which provide high fidelity single-cell recordings for the most demanding applications. Examples are fast voltage gated channel kinetics, leaky channels with weak voltage dependence, and current distributions for heterogeneous cell populations such as stem cell derived cardiomyocytes and ex vivo primary cells. These new plates are fully compatible with all IonFlux systems and users can switch between the two plate formats as their application needs dictate. This really makes the IonFlux system the most versatile automated patch clamp system available.”

Detailed information about Fluxion’s new F1 plates will be available at Fluxion’s product exhibit (Booth #613) at the Society for Neuroscience 2011 conference (November 12-16, Washington, D.C.).