PerkinElmer Announces New Microplate Technology for High Throughput Screening

PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences, a global leader in life science research, drug discovery and cellular science, today announced the launch of 20 new high-throughput microplates, which have been designed to augment the company’s instrumentation and assay platforms. An exclusive feature is an innovative plate height designed for 1536-well microplates. The unique design has the same dimensions as 96- and 384-well plates, provides a single automation protocol, and can significantly reduce error. Widely used in life science research and drug discovery labs, the microplate technologies were exhibited at LabAutomation 2008, Jan. 27-30, Palm Springs, Calif., booth #427.

“The microplate advancements demonstrate our commitment to optimize high-throughput screening and to support researchers, who must continually improve consistency in results, operational efficiency and error reduction,” said Dr. Richard Eglen, President, Molecular Medicine, PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences.

With the new 1536-well microplate models, OptiPlate ™, CulturPlate ™, SpectraPlate ™ and AlphaPlate ™, there is no recalculation and height adjustment required when 96- and 384-well plates are changed to 1536-well plates. Many other 1536-well plates have heights of 8 or 10 mm, and involve two automation protocols. The new plates also have a wider gripping area, which enables more optimal robotic operations, and they meet standards established by the Society of Biomolecular Sciences (SBS) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The new light-gray AlphaPlate, which was designed specifically for AlphaScreen® and AlphaLISA™ biomarker detection assays, has been shown to significantly reduce crosstalk when compared to standard white 1536-well microplates. This provides for enhanced precision and greater sensitivity and signal amplification.