Accelerating Biomarker Discovery and Disease Research with Tecan's Automated Hybridization Stations

Protagen AG, a leading provider of products, services and software solutions for protein research based in Dortmund, Germany, relies on two Tecan HS 4800™ Pro Hybridization Stations for automated processing of its UNIchip® protein arrays for antibody characterization, and for discovery of biomarkers relevant to diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer indications. "After we have found a set of putative biomarkers, the crucial step forward is to test them in quantitative terms in larger patient cohorts, and this requires a highly reproducible chip processing procedure,” explained Dr. Jens Beator, Director of the Protein Biochips business unit at Protagen. "Each chip usually includes a few hundred biomarkers that need to be quantified in a single assay. Careful standardization is extremely important for reproducible analysis so we always process all of our chips under identical conditions using the HS 4800 Pro Hybridization Stations.” "It was relatively straightforward to optimize the assay for automation and to develop standard operating procedures, we also had good support from Tecan,” Jens continued. "In the past we had to perform the assays manually, which required many man hours from our technicians but now those staff are free to do other work.” To find out more on Tecan’s automated hybridization stations, visit www.tecan.com/hs4800. About Tecan Tecan (www.tecan.com) is a leading global supplier of laboratory instruments and solutions for the biopharma, forensic and diagnostic industries. The company specializes in the development, production and distribution of automation solutions for life science laboratories. Through its REMP subsidiary (www.remp.com), Tecan is the premier supplier of automated laboratory storage and logistics systems. Tecan's clients include pharmaceutical and biotech companies, university research departments, diagnostic laboratories and companies as well as forensics laboratories. Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the company has production, research and development sites in both North America and Europe and maintains a sales and service network in 52 countries. In 2007, Tecan achieved sales of CHF 414.4 million (USD 345.3 million; EUR 252.7 million). Registered shares of the Tecan Group are traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange (TK: TECN/Reuters: TECZn.S/Valor: 1210019).