ForteBio has introduced its offline biosensor immobilization station, Sidekick. It enables offline loading of reagents on biosensors, in tandem with any Octet instrument, for enhanced efficiency and assay performance.
The company claims that Sidekick works alongside any Octet instrument and enables offline, simultaneous and uniform sample loading on all 96 biosensors on a biosensor tray. This increases efficiency by freeing up the Octet system for other uses.
Additionally, the instrument shakes the samples, while keeping the biosensors immobile, which decreases the required incubation time by one half, thereby doubling the biosensor preparation productivity. Further, for sandwich assays, this process increases the assay’s sensitivity.
The Octet platform is based on the company’s BioLayer Interferometry (BLI) technology, which uses optical biosensors to measure multiple interactions in parallel, without the use of detection agents. The Octet platform consists of 8- and 16-channel instruments that accommodate 96-and-384-well assay formats.
All Octet biosensors are designed to simplify quantitation and kinetic characterization by eliminating throughput limitations of traditional SPR-based systems. The Octet biosensors are disposable, configured in a standard microplate format and are coated with a biocompatible matrix that is uniform, non-denaturing and has minimal non-specific binding, said the company.
Christopher Silva, vice president of marketing at ForteBio, said: “Our Sidekick instrument enables more samples to be run in significantly less time and with greater assay performance. It is ideal for rapid custom biosensor batch preparation and multistep Octet sandwich assays, which are used to detect impurities such as residual Protein A in therapeutic antibody products.”