ForteBio Launches Dip and Read™ Anti-GST Biosensor

MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ForteBio®, Inc., a leading supplier of label-free technology that accelerates the development of biotherapeutic and pharmaceutical products, today announced the introduction of its Dip and Read™ Anti-GST biosensor for use on the company's Octet® instrumentation platform. The new biosensor enables researchers to conduct quantitation and kinetic analyses with GST fusion proteins – widely used assays to detect protein interactions – with unprecedented ease of use, high-throughput and cost efficiency.

"Our new, robust Anti-GST biosensor enables researchers to determine expression levels of GST-tagged proteins and cell lines in a matter of minutes, rather than hours that are typically required using standard ELISA methods, and then perform rigorous kinetic characterization of the selected clones immediately afterwards," said Christopher Silva, ForteBio's vice president of marketing. "This versatility is especially conducive to high-throughput analyses and enables users to greatly streamline their laboratory workflow to deliver results more quickly."

The Anti-GST biosensor enables easy and rapid quantitation of GST-tagged proteins in buffer, media or bacterial lysates, while facilitating kinetic characterization of macromolecular interactions between GST-tagged proteins and target analytes. Each biosensor can be regenerated up to 10 times during kinetic analysis with a standard low-pH protocol, for maximum cost-efficiency.

The company also announced the launch of its Amine Reactive Second-Generation (AR2G) biosensor, also for use on the company's Octet systems. This new biosensor enables kinetic characterization of macromolecular interactions between purified proteins and target analytes, with similar robustness and high-throughput as the company's Streptavidin biosensor while allowing an alternative biosensor surface when desired for specific ligands.

"Our AR2G biosensor enables researchers to conduct rapid immobilization of proteins and peptides for screening or kinetic experiments with greater ease of use, cost-efficiency and throughput than allowed by traditional methods," said Mr. Silva. "Further, with its newly engineered biocompatible surface matrix, the AR2G biosensor provides enhancements over our first-generation AR biosensor, including greater signal intensity during the loading (immobilization of ligand) and association (detection of analyte) steps of an assay, increased loading density, decreased non-specific binding, and increased stability in a wide range of pH and salt conditions."

ForteBio's Octet platform is based on the company's proprietary BioLayer Interferometry (BLI) technology, which uses optical biosensors to measure multiple interactions in parallel, without the use of detection agents. The Octet platform consists of 8- and 16-channel instruments that accommodate 96- and 384-well assay formats. All Octet biosensors are designed to simplify kinetic characterization and quantitation by eliminating throughput and time-to-result limitations of traditional SPR-based assays and ELISA. The Octet biosensors are disposable, configured in a standard microplate format and are coated with a proprietary biocompatible matrix that is uniform, non-denaturing and has minimal non-specific binding.

ABOUT FORTEBIO, INC.

ForteBio is a life science company that provides analytical systems to accelerate biotherapeutic drug discovery and development. These systems enable real-time, label-free analysis of biomolecular interactions, providing information on affinity, kinetics and concentration. ForteBio's analytical capabilities enable significantly easier, faster and better characterization of drug candidates, thus providing greater value in drug development applications where existing methods have limitations in throughput, performance and cost. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with wholly owned subsidiaries in London and Shanghai. For more information, visit www.fortebio.com.

SOURCE ForteBio, Inc.