Multi-well microplate format

NEXTERION® MPX-96 microarraying products

The microtiter plate format is a standard research tool for clinical diagnostics and drug discovery. The advantages associated with this format are obvious and include, high sample throughput, cost savings and compatibility with automated handling systems. In recent years, there have been efforts to make the microplate format available for microarraying with the emergence of highresolution plate scanners and compatible arrayers. However, there are clearly a number of limitations with the conventional 96-well polymeric and glass bottom microtiter plates currently being utilized in microarraying, including:

• Microarray print heads cannot access the entire well area because the wells are recessed. This limits the number of features per well and arrayer compatibility.
• The depth of the wells, and the subsequent additional z-axis travel, makes printing time consuming.
• The intra-well print area may be restricted due to the contamination of the well edges with bonding adhesive. In addition, adhesive out gassing can affect functional coating performance.
• The round wells have a smaller printable area than the square MPX-96 wells.
• Difficulty associated with applying functional coatings to plastic plates.
• Conventional plastic microplates suffer from poor optical transparency and flatness

Overview

Key product features

Immobilization chemistry

NEXTERION® multi-well plates are available with several NEXTERION® functional coatings 
This coating is identical to the respective coating on NEXTERION® Slides. Please refer to the table in the section “General information coated slides” in order to find the appropriate coating chemistry for your specific application.

Product details

NEXTERION® multi-well plates are available with several NEXTERION® functional coatings (see table immobilization chemistryin the general multi-well section).
This coating is identical to the respective coating on NEXTERION® Slides. Please refer to the table in the section “General information coated slides” in order to find the appropriate coating chemistry for your specific application.

Product details

The three main components comprising the NEXTERION® MPX-96 system are available as a complete kit for evaluation, or as separate items:

 96-well silicone superstructure

 

The optional superstructure is self-adhesive and adheres to the 96-well patterning on the glass plate, increasing the well volume to between 30 and 130 μL. Placing the adhesive on the superstructure rather than on the glass plate, avoids the problem of adhesive contamination in the wells.
!! Attention: Please store superstructures flat, and do not bend as performance may be impaired !! 

 

Microtiter plate holder with lid

 

The SBS (Society for Biomolecular Screening) compliant rigid polycarbonate holder supports the glass substrate and superstructure. It also acts as an alignment jig when attaching the superstructure. The holder has molded alpha/ numeric well labels for easy identification. The four fixing pins firmly hold the glass plate at the four corners of the microtiter plate holder ensuring the glass is kept flat. The lid and sealing film limit sample contamination and evaporation during processing.

 

Instrument compatibility

 

The NEXTERION® MPX-96 plates are compatible with a wide range of commercially available microarray printers, plate washers and scanners.
Technical instructions

 

Further information about printing and processing the MPX-96 plates are available in the FAQsection.

 

Packaging and storage

 

NEXTERION® glass plates are available in single plate kits, or as 5-plate packs sealed in stable plastic boxes under an inert atmosphere. The plates are packaged separately to the plastic kit components to avoid any changes to the coatings caused by outgassing. The exact shelf life of the plates is determined by the coating and is indicated on the external packaging.