Fluidigm Announces New Biomark Users in North America and Asia



    Fluidigm Corporation has announced the placement of BioMark(TM)
    Real-time PCR Systems in high-profile R&D organizations. Among recent
    adopters are MedImmune, Inc., in Gaithersburg, Maryland; Eisai Co.,
    Ltd., in Tokyo, Japan; and the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Quake, a
    Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute lab, at Stanford University,
    in Stanford, California.

    Microplate-based systems are the norm for real-time PCR, but the
    BioMark system uses nanofluidic chips known as dynamic arrays. Dynamic
    arrays represent a fundamentally new format for the process,
    assembling PCRs within an integrated fluidic circuit, with channels
    and valves to regulate fluids. Nothing epitomizes the efficiency of
    chips more than an image of 24 96-well plates stacked next to just one
    dynamic array. Both the plates and the single chip generate 2,304 data
    points, but the chip does so with only 96 pipetting steps (48
    primer-probe sets and 48 samples) compared to the 4,608 steps required
    with plates.

    "When we consider our customers' diverse applications and
    ambitious plans," said Fluidigm CEO Gajus Worthington, "we believe the
    day will soon come when old plates piled high on the bench will be a
    thing of the past."

    While the BioMark system runs dynamic arrays primarily for
    transcript profiling and for generating dose response curves, it also
    runs other chips, such as the digital array. The digital array is
    useful for early detection and monitoring of cancers and as a uniquely
    sensitive method to detect and quantify single base pair mutations.

    For more information on the BioMark system, including dynamic
    arrays and digital arrays, as well as thermal cycling and detection
    instrumentation, please visit www.fluidigm.com.

    About Fluidigm Corporation

    Fluidigm Corporation develops and distributes systems based on the
    unique properties of integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) to precisely
    control fluids on a nanoliter volume scale. The Company's vision is to
    create and to lead a new industry in which IFCs bring unparalleled
    efficiencies to the life science and allied fields. Based in South San
    Francisco, California, the Company is privately held and backed by
    premier investors: Versant Ventures, Euclid SR Partners, InterWest
    Partners, Alloy Ventures, Lehman Brothers Healthcare Fund, Bio*One
    Capital, Bruce Burrows, Lilly BioVentures, the Invus Group, SightLine
    Partners, AllianceBernstein, Wasatch Advisors and its affiliate, Cross
    Creek Capital, and GE Equity.

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