The new FC1^TM Cycler from Fluidigm Corporation is designed to reduce the thermal cycling time by a factor of three when compared with the company's current products. The FC1 Cycler can reduce overall system configuration costs for customers conducting high sample throughput SNP genotyping since they will need fewer thermal cyclers to achieve their output requirements.

Adding the new FC1 Cycler to today's existing Fluidigm system offering provides users with the ability to double the number of microfluidic chips that can be processed in a single day. This ultra-fast thermal cycler provides a foundation for future groundbreaking Fluidigm products intended to dramatically boost productivity and lower costs for customers conducting high sample throughput genotyping.

"High throughput SNP genotyping programs are embracing Fluidigm technology. To bring even greater value to our SNP genotyping customers, we are creating new instrumentation and revolutionary chip architectures to transform this market segment over the next 12 months. Fluidigm's new FC1 Cycler is the first of these new products to roll out," said Gajus Worthington, president and chief executive officer, Fluidigm.

In addition to the fast thermal cycling capability, the FC1 Cycler integrates a self-contained vacuum source and touch screen interface (that offers easy editing of thermal protocols) in a streamlined design that minimizes lab space requirements while maximizing productivity.

The new FC1 Cycler is fully compatible with Fluidigm's 96.96 and 48.48 Dynamic Array^TM IFCs and its 12.765 Digital Array^TM IFC. The FC1 Cycler, combined with either the Fluidigm EP1^TM Reader or BioMark^TM Real-time PCR System, can complete the entire workflow of the system in a matter of hours with only minutes of hands-on time for loading the chips. This is compared to days of hands-on time and weeks of effort to complete this volume of work using traditional 384-well plates.  For a technical datasheet describing the FC-1 Cycler in detail please visit www.fluidigm.com/pdf/fldm/FLDM_MRKT00145%20FC1%20cycler%20Datasheet.pdf.

Fluidigm develops, manufactures and markets proprietary Integrated Fluidic Circuit (IFC) systems that significantly improve productivity in life science research. Fluidigm's IFCs enable the simultaneous performance of thousands of sophisticated biochemical measurements in extremely minute volumes. These "integrated circuits for biology" are made possible by miniaturizing and integrating liquid handling components on a single microfluidic device. Fluidigm's systems, consisting of instrumentation, software and single-use chips, increase throughput, decrease costs and enhance sensitivity compared to conventional laboratory systems. Fluidigm products have not been cleared or approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a diagnostic and are only available for research use. 

* Fluidigm, the Fluidigm logo, BioMark, Access Array, Dynamic Array, Digital Array, FC1, Topaz, and NanoFlex are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fluidigm Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.