HP Launches the First Product Based on "Lab-on-a-Chip" Technology - HP 2100 bioanalyzer - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Sept 27, 1999

Hewlett-Packard Company has introduced the HP 2100 bioanalyzer for the integrated analysis of nucleic acids. This is the first commercially available product utilizing lab-on-a-chip technology.

Based on Caliper Technologies' LabChip technology, the system marks a major step toward the development of a completely automated microscale laboratory. In this "lab-on-a-chip," all sample preparation, fluid handling and biochemical analysis steps will be carried out within the confines of a microchip. The chips comprise microchannels fabricated in glass, plastic or other substrates that create interconnected networks of fluid reservoirs and pathways.

Used together with various LabChip kits, the HP 2100 bioanalyzer improves the quality of nucleic acid analysis by integrating sample handling, separation, detection and digital data processing within a single, compact system architecture. The system is designed for use by molecular biologists and biochemists working with polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) products, restriction enzyme digests or ribonucleic acid (RNA) preparations.

Implications for Life-science Research

Researchers in the areas of disease and drug discovery still experience manual-processing bottlenecks during the analysis of nucleic acids. LabChip technology offers many benefits over existing manual gel electrophoresis products:

Improved Accuracy -- The integrated, miniaturized chip design drastically cuts system-retention and material-transfer losses, improving accuracy and reducing sample consumption.

Rapid Analysis -- Miniaturized fluid pathways, based on microchannels microns in size, dramatically shorten run times. Each nucleic acid sample is analyzed in approximately 90 seconds.

Enhanced Reproducibility -- State-of-the-art fabrication processes yield chips that perform more reproducibly than conventional gel products. Automated fluid handling, using standardized experimental protocols, further enhances performance.

Initial Applications

The HP 2100 bioanalyzer is offered with three introductory assays. Each assay is packaged as a complete, ready-to-use kit:

DNA 7500 LabChip kit for accurate sizing and quantitation of DNA fragments ranging in size from 100bp to 7,500bp;

NA 12000 LabChip kit for accurate sizing of DNA\ fragments from 100bp to 12,000bp; and

RNA 6000 LabChip kit for the analysis and quantitation of total RNA and mRNA samples.

Pricing and Availability

The HP 2100 bioanalyzer is initially available in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. It can be ordered directly through HP chemical-analysis-products sales offices in each of the selected countries. The price of the complete system is $18,800, and delivery is estimated at six weeks from receipt of order. The system is expected to be available in additional European countries and Japan within the next year.

HP's Chemical Analysis Group, with headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., is a leading provider of chemical analysis measurement and information solutions, services and support, columns and supplies to scientific laboratories in industry, government and academia. The group has 3,789 employees worldwide and had revenues of $946 million in its 1998 fiscal year.

Information about LabChip products, can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com/go/labonachip.>

COPYRIGHT 1999 EDGE Publishing

COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group