SAN DIEGO, California -- June 10, 2008 -- Silicon Kinetics, Inc., a venture-backed proteomics tools company, has announced the availability of its novel 3D nano-porous silicon-based SKi ProTM platform for biomolecular interaction analysis in disease pathway research, biomarker discovery, drug discovery, drug and vaccine development and quality control in drug manufacturing. Silicon Kinetics SKi SensorTM biochips represent the industry’s first to feature a 3D nano-porous surface, which allows sensitivity enhancements over conventional 2D or planar surfaces in the determination of protein-protein, protein-drug or protein-DNA binding, including the quantitation of binding kinetics.
SKi SensorTM biochips are read by precision optical interferometry, allowing real-time monitoring of biomolecular interactions. The platform is also the first to offer flexibility in format, with either standard microtiter wellplates or flow cells.
“Nano-porous silicon is ideally suited for label-free biomolecular interaction analysis in proteomics,” said Hus Tigli, President and CEO of Silicon Kinetics. “The optical interrogation of the nano-porous structure not only offers advantages in sensitivity and experimental format flexibility in low to high-throughput applications, but it also allows an affordable platform to the individual researcher, or a common technical platform across many departments of pharmaceutical or biotech companies, research institutes or universities.”
Silicon Kinetics held its first pre-launch by-invitation-only biomolecular interaction analysis workshop in Maui in late May, with over 50 attendees representing renowned research institutes, universities and pharma/biotech firms. In a post-workshop survey, the majority of researchers indicated that Silicon Kinetics had advantages over 2D techniques such as SPR in each of the following high-ranked attributes: enhanced sensitivity, lowering the cost of research, surface chemistry range, throughput, modular automation, and experimental format flexibility.
“The SKi Pro system is an advanced tool that provides many new and powerful capabilities to scientists across a range of important applications and research areas,” said Justin Saeks, an industry analyst at Kalorama Information. “The advantages in sensitivity, cost and modularity make it particularly promising.”
About Silicon Kinetics, Inc:
Silicon Kinetics is a privately-held proteomics tools company headquartered in San Diego, California, with biochip labs in Maui, Hawaii. The Company specializes in instruments for optical interferometry in nano-porous silicon biochips. The SKi ProTM instrument platform and the SKi SensorTM biochips are used to detect protein-protein, protein-drug, or protein-DNA interactions in real-time and quantify binding kinetics, dissociation rates, or biomolecular affinity rankings, required for the study of disease pathways and the development and manufacturing of therapeutics. More information can be found at www.siliconkinetics.com.
