Tübingen, May 30, 2011 – flyion introduces f11™, a new Automated Patch Clamp device developed and produced by a FDA registered medical device manufacturer in an ISO 9001 and 13485 certified environment. 
 
Ion channel screening has become an essential part of the pharmaceutical drug discovery and development process and patch clamp remains the gold standard to measure pharmacological effects on this target class. Until now all commercially available automated patch clamp instruments suffer from either very high consumable prices or low experimental sensitivity imposing severe limitations with regards to either the experimental throughput or the ion channels accessible for the assay.
 
The f11™ addresses both issues. It is a true Gigaseal instrument offering the highest possible sensitivity. Fully automated operation provides superior ease of use.  The cost per measurement is significantly reduced by using the new PatchTip™ glass pipettes. At the same time all benefits of the previously developed Flip-the-Tip™ technology have been retained: Autofocusing of the solution stream onto a cell surface for extremely rapid extracellular solution exchange rates of less than 10 ms support measurements of rapidly desensitizing ligand gated channels. Smallest chamber volumes enable measurements with only 10 cells leading to reliable pharmacological data and minimal drug consumption. High and stable success rates are obtained with strictly physiological solutions and without Fluoride addition avoiding disruption of cellular signaling and Ca channel measurements. The use of borosilicate glass pipettes minimizes unspecific drug binding and supports variable pipette geometries, such as sub-micrometer diameters for the measurement of organelles e.g. mitochondria.
 
The f11™ is available through flyion and its distributors immediately.
 
About flyion GmbH:
flyion (www.flyion.com) is the worldwide technology leader in ion channel screening and contributes to the accelerated development and successful introduction of new drugs. The company develops automated patch clamp instruments, that are deployed for characterization of ion channels, for screening of drug candidates, as well as for safety pharmacological testing.
The instruments are based on the patented Flip-the-Tip™ technology, which performs the patch clamp experiment inside a regular glass pipette. This facilitates efficient, precise and high throughput ion channel screening. To further support its customers, flyion also offers services for ion channel screening, assay development and cell line development.
 
Contact:

flyion GmbH
Dr. Dirck Lassen
Waldhäuser Str. 64
72076 Tübingen
Germany
t +49 (0)7071 / 6 888 3 - 15
f +49 (0)7071 / 6 888 3 - 99

www.flyion.com

The technology was initially developed to produce special electrode shapes for very fast solution exchange in Flip-the-Tip patch clamp. Beyond this original purpose, blown up and specially shaped pipettes can be deployed in conventional manual patch clamp too. The benefits here are:

-Extremely fast internal perfusion of the pipette

-Intracellular solution exchange in <100 ms

-Rapid application of second messenger

-Rapid wash out

-Quick cytoplasmic dialysis with dyes and chemicals

-Access time for perforated-patch is reduced to <10s

-100% reliable perforation, perforated Rs <10 MOhm

The Feedback-Microforge is available through flyion and its distributors immediately.

About flyion GmbH:
flyion (www.flyion.com) is the worldwide technology leader in ion channel screening and contributes to the accelerated development and successful introduction of new drugs. The company develops automated patch clamp instruments, that are deployed for characterization of ion channels, for screening of drug candidates, as well as for safety pharmacological testing.
The instruments are based on the patented Flip-the-Tip™ technology, which performs the patch clamp experiment inside a regular glass pipette. This facilitates efficient, precise and high throughput ion channel screening. To further support its customers, flyion also offers services for ion channel screening, assay development and cell line development.
 
Contact:

flyion GmbH
Dr. Dirck Lassen
Waldhäuser Str. 64
72076 Tübingen
Germany
t +49 (0)7071 / 6 888 3 - 15
f +49 (0)7071 / 6 888 3 - 99

www.flyion.com

Flyscreen 8500 robots by flyion help researchers of German biotechnology company 4SC to complete their experiments faster. These devices automate the patch clamp method and facilitate ion channel research and safety pharmacology studies for drug development.
 
The patch clamp experiment is the only available technology for high resolution real time measurements of ion channels. In its conventional form, this method requires laborious, manual process steps. flyion’s Flip-the-Tip™ technology inverts the traditional experimental setup and is ideally suited for automation. Thus an automatic high throughput method is available to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, that produces superlative-quality data and plays a key role in rationalizing ion channel screening.
 
“flyion’s technology enables us to investigate even the fastest drug effects on ion channel targets, such as observed in natural synapses” said Dr. Daniel Vit, CSO at 4SC AG. “The Flip-the-Tip method provides a significantly higher throughput, without sacrificing the accuracy of conventional manual patch clamp. We are convinced that by implementing this technology, we will contribute significantly to the progress in ion channel research.”
 
Dr. Albrecht Lepple-Wienhues, managing director at flyion, stated: “Our high content screening method is an ideal complement to the technology platform 4Scan. We are delighted to make a valuable contribution to 4SC’s project progress.”
 
About flyion GmbH:
flyion (www.flyion.com) is the worldwide technology leader in ion channel screening and contributes to the accelerated development and successful introduction of new drugs. The company develops automated patch clamp devices, that are deployed for characterization of ion channels, for screening of drug candidates, as well as for safety pharmacological testing.
The devices are based on the patented Flip-the-Tip™ technology, which performs the patch clamp experiment inside a regular glass pipette. This facilitates efficient, precise and high throughput ion
channel screening. To further support its customers, flyion also offers services for ion channel screening, assay development and cell line development.
 
Contact:
Maisberger Whiteoaks GmbH
Martina Eder / Dimitrij Naumov
Kirchenstrasse 15
81675 München
Germany
t +49 (0)89 / 41 95 99 - 26 / - 63
f +49 (0)89 / 41 95 99 12

www.maisberger.com
 
flyion GmbH
Dr. Dirck Lassen
Waldhäuser Str. 64
72076 Tübingen
Germany
t +49 (0)7071 / 6 888 3 - 15
f +49 (0)7071 / 6 888 3 - 99

www.flyion.com