More resolution, less wait
Håvard Hildeng Hauge, CEO of Biomolex since 2001. Hauge holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Oslo
Researchers at the Norwegian Radium Hospital develop new instrument for real-time detection.
John Erik Stacy, Norwegian American Weekly, May 21 2010
The Biomolex 700 is an “imager” developed by researchers at the Norwegian Radium Hospital and now in use at leading labs around the world. Håvard Hauge, managing director of the Biomolex company, sees a clear potential for this instrument at university labs doing molecular biology and also at hospital and public health labs doing advanced diagnostic procedures. There is a proven market for instruments of this type, but Hauge emphasizes many ways in which the Biomolex 700 is superior to the competition.
“One big advantage of the Biomolex 700 is real-time detection. That is, you can watch the image appear on the screen as the exposure happens. In the old days, people used X-ray film to get these types of images. Getting the exposure time right was a big trick. Imaging based on plates containing phosphorous has replaced film in most labs, but this has essentially the same weakness as film. The real time detection system used in the Biomolex 700 gives a much better image than either film or phosphor.”
Real-time detection means that signal from the sample is read continuously such that the image cannot be over-exposed. Furthermore, the detection system is about four times as sensitive as a phosphor plate. The result is that the dynamic range of the Biomolex 700 is essentially infinite. In practice it means that images can be presented where differences in feature intensity vary by as much as 10,000 fold.
Several specific applications have been shown for the instrument, including protein arrays and labeled tissue sections. These are a natural fit, since the detection area of the Biomolex 700 is that of a microscope slide (3 inches long and 1 inch wide). Biomolex has worked with the Dutch company PepScan and demonstrated the use of its PepChip Kinase array. And images from tissue sections probed with radio-labeled antibodies have been shown by researchers at the Medical Radiation Physics Laboratory at the Crump institute for Molecular Imaging at UCLA.
This year Biomolex was presented at the Scandinavian Pavilion at the Bio International Convention along with other biotech companies that are part of the Oslo Cancer Cluster. Biomolex is in the process of seeking U.S. distributors for its instrument.
For more information visit www.biomolex.com.
This article was originally published in the May 21, 2010 issue of the Norwegian American Weekly. For more information about the Norwegian American Weekly or to subscribe, call us toll free (800) 305-0217 or email subscribe@norway.com.
