Rediscover Protein Microarray Printing and Analysis With Arrayjet Ltd

Microarray and bioprinting are important for researchers and drug testing companies. But the process can be difficult and costly if it is not your main activity. This is why we interviewed Sam Hawkings, an application scientist at Arrayjet Ltd, a Scottish company that specializes in microarray and bioprinting solutions.

Sam Hawkings

Tell us more about you?

I come from a biomedical background so I am passionate about keeping up-to-date with breakthroughs in immunotherapy, glycobiology and drug discovery. As part of a contract research organization that also manufactures custom-built instruments, I am able to help researchers with their projects, one of which is the largest malaria study of its kind involving a cohort of over 20,000 patients profiled by protein array.

About your lab, what is its history, its mission?

Arrayjet Ltd was established in 2000 with private equity from the Archangel Investors Ltd and the Scottish Government. In 2016 we secured a record £650,000 in funding, enabling us to double our lab space and employ a bioinformatics team and a chief engineer with experience in working towards ISO 13485:16 accreditation.

Our core expertise lies within protein microarray printing and analysis, but the instruments are capable of handling any biomaterial smaller in size than a red blood cell. The Arrayjet Advance lab team combine over 100 years’ microarray experience in printing oligonucleotides, antibodies and peptides, small molecules and carbohydrates onto a variety of slides, chips and microplate surfaces.

What services does your lab offer?

Arrayjet offer microarray and bioprinting solutions for high-throughput screening programs: from examining host-pathogen interactions to epitope mapping, cancer biomarker identification, small molecules drug discovery, hybridoma screening, genomic profiling, and antibody validation. A range of scaleable instruments ensures that customers are supported from research to large batch manufacture of commercial arrays.

“The combination of an excellent product in their microarray printers and a responsive technical support team to assist with bespoke solutions to individual project needs were two of the many attributes that attracted us to work with Arrayjet. At every step of the design of an in-house microarray chip, we had at our disposal a dedicated team of application specialists who were very cordial and available to respond to our many queries. It was on the back of this excellent support that we eventually purchased one of their microarray printers and we have continued to enjoy excellent technical training on the instrument and engineering support.”

Dr. James Tuju, Principal Investigator, KEMRI Wellcome Trust, Kenya

What sets your expertise apart from others?

Arrayjet technology is the fastest on the market, printing 640 features per second. Twin QC cameras analyze printed slides in real time, communicating with the software to ensure no missing spots. The throughput is unparalleled: up to 1000 slides or 200 microplates can be printed in a single run, making for excellent batch reproducibility. The capacity to outsource printing to a team of experts minimizes assay development risks and helps ensure projects are completed on time.

What challenges are you willing to address in the near future?

Arrayjet is continually updating its technology to meet changing customer needs, particularly in the diagnostics market: watch this space!

What do you expect from Scientist?

Through increased visibility, I hope to find new R&D partners for Arrayjet and keep our worldwide customer base growing.

If you are interested in knowing more about Arrayjet Ltd__,_visit its profile._