Biobank
Rapid advances in translational medicine have generated a growing need for clinically meaningful biomarkers, necessitating access to a large number of high-quality biosamples. The biobanks, or biorepositories, that evolved to satisfy this need collect, properly preserve and maintain critical information regarding thousands of biospecimens every year. Biobanks play a significant role in understanding disease origins and intervention pathways by providing the crucial sample bridge between molecular assays and clinical studies.
Many modern biobanks focus on multiple disease domains affecting the world population such as cancer, heart disease, arthritis and dementia – while others are dedicated to community-specific diseases such as hypertension in the African Diaspora. Blood, tissue and any associated derivatives make up the majority of biospecimens available to researchers through biobanks today. These can, in turn, be used in studies to identify and validate drug targets, discover disease mechanisms, develop biomarker screening tests, group patients for testing and treatment based on their genetic characteristics, or for discovery of other relevant molecular signatures.
Caliper provides a complete automation solution for the production of molecular extract derivatives from blood and tissue samples, while also ensuring the quality and traceability of results. The Sciclone® G3 Workstation and Zephyr® Molecular Biology Workstation liquid handling platforms are ideal for solid- phase extraction of DNA and RNA from blood and tissue samples, as well as for purification and subsequent preparation of microtiter plates for long-term storage. The LabChip® GX is also essential for determining DNA or RNA quality by providing sizing and quantitation results for hundreds of samples in just a few hours. In addition, integrated barcode capability also allows the tracking initiated at sample preparation to continue through analysis. The LabChip GX can also be coupled with the Twister II Plate Handler for longer walk away time and be integrated into a Staccato Workstation for complete automation of sample preparation and analysis.
