May 9, 2011 — The Dolomite Centre Ltd, designer and manufacturer of microfluidic devices, signed a collaboration agreement with Sphere Fluidics, a leading company in commercializing picodroplet technology that performs thousands of simultaneous analyses on single cells and small populations of molecules.
Sphere Fluidics is commercializing new lab-on-a-chip and picodroplet technology developed at Cambridge University by company founders Professor Chris Abell and Professor Wilhelm Huck. Sphere Fluidics offers expertise in miniaturized discovery systems and services based on microfluidics and picodroplets.
Focusing on storing and retrieving individual picodroplets containing a unique sample, Sphere Fluidics’ technology benefits rapid antibody discovery, identification of novel algal strains, generation of new biocatalysts, etc.
The agreement between Sphere Fluidics and Dolomite establishes core areas where the two companies will collaborate:
- Dolomite will become the exclusive worldwide distributor for Sphere Fluidics’ standard products, including a range of PDMS picodroplet handling chips and surfactants;
- Dolomite will develop and sell new products in picodroplet technology, based on Sphere Fluidics’ expertise.
Dolomite expects to add further functionality, such as droplet merging, via the collaboration. Sphere Fluidics expects the cooperation to bring its technologies to market faster.
"Microdroplets are a fascinating and fast growing area of research, especially useful where tests need to be conducted on only a few nanolitres of sample containing, for example, cells or DNA," commented Dr. Andrew Lovatt, CEO of Dolomite.
Sphere Fluidics is commercializing new lab-on-a-chip and picodroplet technology from Cambridge University that can perform thousands of simultaneous reactions on single cells and small populations of molecules contained within aqueous droplets, fractions of a millimetre in size. For more information please visit www.spherefluidics.com
A Microfluidic Application Centre, Dolomite focused on working with customers to turn their concepts for microfluidic applications into reality. For more information please visit www.dolomite-microfluidics.com
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