San Francisco site to become US West Coast demonstration centre 

SAW Instruments LLC has inked a deal with US firm Full Spectrum Genetics (FSG) to place a high-end sam^®X biosensor in FSG's San Francisco laboratory. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Within the agreement, FSG will have full access to the biosensor for its own internal research programs, and will receive full applications training and support from SAW Instruments. The new system was installed at the end of June and will mean that researchers on the West Coast can book demonstration slots and visit locally to see the sam^®X in action. sam^®X utilizes innovative Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) technology (rather than optical methods like conventional SPR) to generate real-time, label-free binding data. This makes the sam^®family of biosensors an enabling and cost-effective solution in drug discovery and life science research, ideal for measuring protein:protein,protein:small molecule and antibody:cell interactions on a single platform.

Dr Bob DuBridge, CEO of Full Spectrum Genetics, commented: "We are very excited about having access to a sam^®X system in our laboratory, since it will enable us to accurately measure the binding of our protein and peptide inhibitors to multi-spanning proteins, such as tetraspanners and GPCRs, on the surface of intact cells.  Traditionally these measurements have been difficult to make on this class of cellular receptors, and we expect this technology will enable us to expand our development of biotherapeutics to include these important pharmaceutical targets."

Managing Director of SAW Instruments, Dr Markus Perpeet, said: "We are delighted that FSG has chosen the sam^®X biosensor for its antibody research and development programs, as well as to demonstrate the system's powerful capabilities to other interested parties. We have had a similar arrangement in Boston for East Coast customers and this has already proved extremely popular. SAW will also be implementing a local West Coast Field Applications Scientist, who will be on-site to offer support and showcase the system to other researchers." FSG is located in South San Francisco, extremely close to San Francisco International Airport, putting it within easy distance of anyone on the West Coast of the US.

As the newest member of the sam^® family, the sam^®X is optimized for higher throughput, having 8 sensors, and for on-line loading and binding of capture proteins. The elegant fluidics on sam^®X also enables samples to be delivered to unique sensor positions or to common groups of 2, 4 or 8 sensors with the same sample or reagent.  

To request a sam^®X demonstration at FSG, or for more information about the SAW approach, please visit www.saw-instruments.com.