LabChip Technology Named 'Best New Product' at Pittcon 2000

The Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer received the Editors' Choice Gold Award as the "Best New Product" at Pittcon 2000. Based on Caliper's LabChip microfluidic chip technology, the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer was designed to enhance the efficiency, productivity, and speed of laboratory experimentation by miniaturizing, integrating, and automating many of the tedious experiments that researchers perform every day. Pittcon, which was held in New Orleans this year, is the world's largest congress of industrial and academic scientists who specialize in analytical instrumentation, equipment, and techniques.

In 1998, Caliper and Agilent (then Hewlett-Packard) established a multi-year collaboration to commercialize LabChip products for the research products market. Caliper develops the core LabChip technologies and applications and manufactures the chips. Agilent designs and manufactures the instrumentation and has responsibility for worldwide sales and marketing.

Agilent and Caliper commercialized their first LabChip system in 1999. The microfluidic chips are a key component of the system, which also includes reagents, instrumentation, and software that controls the experiments and display the results. The initial applications perform DNA and RNA analyses, replacing experiments that can be imprecise and time-consuming when done using conventional technology. In the coming year, the application menu for the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer will be expanded to include next generation nucleic acid and protein assays.

Caliper designs, manufactures, and commercializes LabChip devices and systems that enable experiments that ordinarily require laboratories full of equipment and people to be conducted on a chip small enough to fit in the palm of a child's hand. The chip contains a network of microscopic channels through which fluids and chemicals are moved in order to perform the experiment. The LabChip system is designed to streamline and accelerate laboratory experimentation and has potential applicability in a broad range of industries including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, chemicals, and diagnostics. Caliper has established multiple strategic and commercial alliances and has built a leading intellectual property estate in microfluidic technology.

"Recognition at Pittcon is a great honor for the Caliper/Agilent collaboration," said Dan Kisner, president and CEO of Caliper. "We believe that LabChip technology has the potential to transform the world of laboratory experimentation and bring greater efficiency and cost-savings to researchers in many industries. We believe that the value of LabChip products will grow as we introduce new applications that expand its utility, and as more researchers experience the important productivity benefits of this powerful technology."

The Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer is initially available in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. It can be ordered directly through the Agilent sales offices in each of the selected countries. For more information on the system, read Agilent Showcases First Lab-on-a-Chip Product at Pittcon.

Edited by Laura DeFrancesco