Technology - Principles of DropArray™

Patent-pending DropArray™ technology offers the same functionality as conventional microtiter plates, with the added advantages of miniaturization and automation. In DropArray™, a microtiter plate is replaced by a proprietary "wall-less" plate patterned with an array of hydrophilic wells surrounded by hydrophobic coating. The key technical innovation is the integration of a proprietary immiscible fluid, Rinsing Oil, and the hydrophobic coating that together function as "walls", minimizing carry-over and cross-talk. DropArray™ technology allows the washing process to be performed with no pipetting required, unlike most conventional methodologies and solutions available to date.

The Conventional 96-Well Microtitre Plate

Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) and cell based assays are popular biochemical techniques used as diagnostic tools in medicine, research, pathology, as well as in quality control checks in various industries. These assays are conducted with conventional microtiter plates, comprising of wells separated with physical walls, in which reagents and samples are added (one at a time) for a reaction to occur. The presence of these walls allows reagents to be added, mixed, incubated and washed without cross-contamination of samples and reagents across different wells.

Since its inception, a lot of efforts have been made to improve bioassays, mostly through the reduction of cost and time mostly through miniaturization of microtitre plates. However, the very nature of microtiter plates (with their physical walls) has proven to be the biggest barrier in improvement, primarily due to capillary action from the walls. Through DropArray™ technology Curiox has managed to eliminate the physical walls - removing the hassles involved with performing bioassays, allowing for smaller sample volumes to be used in conducting bioassays, and providing consistent and reproducible results achieved with sample volumes never attained before on a "wall-less" platform.