FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 12, 2003

Tecan (UK) has announced a new 384-channel pipetting head incorporating proprietary liquid displacement technology that offers superior precision and prevention of cross contamination.

Superior precision, low volume dispensing ..

Tecan (UK) has announced a new 384-channel pipetting head incorporating proprietary liquid displacement technology that offers superior precision and prevention of cross contamination.

The new 384-channel head introduces a high performance pipetting option designed for many applications including compound management and screening, PCR and SNP preparation, plate preparation, oligonucleotide processing and MALDI target-plate spotting.

Tecan's 384-channel pipetting head allows fast, accurate and reliable sample dispensing of volumes from 200nl to 50µl. Uniquely, the pipetting head features a liquid-filled system enabling superior precision, even at low volumes, as well as a new efficient washing system. The lower compressibility of liquid compared to air offers significant improvements in pipetting precision. The fluid filled head therefore allows pipetting with outstanding precision over a wide range of volumes.

To minimise cross contamination during pipetting, a highly efficient washing process has been introduced that uses the system liquid and an active wash station. The system liquid is used to wash the inner surface of the pipetting needle while the outer surface is washed by the wash station. The result is a wash performance that meets the requirements of applications with the highest possible standards of purity.

Designed to offer the kind of flexibility that customers expect from Tecan solutions, the 384-channel head is compatible with both smaller and larger automated pipetting systems, including Tecan's bench top multi pipetting system, the Aquarius; the Te-MO family of multi-channel pipettors on Genesis and Freedom EVO; and larger automated systems using rail-based articulated robots (TRAC system).

CONTACTS:

Tecan UK Ltd. Theale Court 11-13 High Street Theale Reading RG7 5AH UK tel. +44-1189-300300 email: tecanuk@tecan.com www.tecan.com