DEPArray™ PLUS – the new automated and versatile platform to investigate pre-selected rare cell populations from various samples with 100% purity, now enhanced with 9 fluorescent channels and remarkably improved user experience

BOLOGNA, Italy and HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa., May 27, 2021 – Menarini Silicon Biosystems, a pioneer of liquid biopsy and single cell technologies, announced today the launch of the new highly automated DEPArray™ PLUS*, now available with 9 fluorescent channels. This robust image-based cell-sorting technology combines microelectronics and microfluidics in a unique platform to isolate rare cells from mixed cellular samples. Its optimized, intuitive interface allows researchers to obtain the desired target cells with a 100% purity and minimal operator interaction. The built-in software leads to a rapid selection of cells with a high level of accuracy, reproducibility, and quality images thanks to its fluorescent microscope resolution. The system is compatible with a variety of rare cell suspensions, including live and fixed cells, small cell loads, Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) tissues and liquid biopsies. Sorting of rare cells with DEPArray PLUS has become more effortless and precise than ever before.

DEPArray PLUS additional fluorescent channels provide expanded capabilities to better characterize different cell populations from complex heterogeneous samples. Once individual or pools of cells are isolated, researchers can conduct precise molecular investigations. “The DEPArray PLUS can complement the CELLSEARCH® platform, the Gold Standard for circulating tumor cells enrichment, to perform further molecular analyses and clinical research using the captured CTCs, since it features a unique automated workflow to isolate cells with very limited operator intervention and improved standardization of the process,” commented Professor Leon WMM Terstappen, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Medical Cell BioPhysics at the University of Twente, The Netherlands.

DEPArray PLUS is the latest evolution of the DEPArray technology with unique new features to optimize the user experience, reduce hands-on time and speed up sample processing. These include an automated notification system informing users directly on their mobile device upon the completion of each step of a run and a faster workflow thanks to a new cartridge with enhanced microfluidics and the implementation of pre-set parameters for identification and recovery of target cells.

Researchers have the flexibility to prepare their samples according to their own protocol or use optimized sample preparation kits for various inputs including blood, FFPE tissue and forensic evidence. The system is able to identify and isolate extremely low numbers of target cells from a minimal input sample volume. DEPArray PLUS is fully integrated with blood samples prepared with the Menarini Silicon Biosystems CTC enrichment technologies, CELLSEARCH® and CELLMAG™, allowing further isolation and delivery of 100% pure single cells ready for genetic analysis.

For Fabio Piazzalunga, President and CEO of Menarini Silicon Biosystems “We are proud to provide the new powerful version of DEPArray technology for rare cell sorting with full automation capability: it is a revolutionary platform on which we will continue to add innovative features thereby opening new horizons for patient-centered precision therapies”

About DEPArray™ PLUS

DEPArray™ PLUS is an automated, image-based platform combining fluorescence and brightfield microscopy to digitally sort target cells with 100% purity. This proprietary technology allows the gentle sorting of single rare cells from different samples such as enriched blood, FFPE tissues and forensic mixtures. The image gallery provides high resolution information to review, select and sort target cells for subsequent molecular characterization. The key new features of the system lie in the expanded 9 fluorescent channels, improved automation, faster single cell recovery and enhanced user experience.

For more information please refer to www.siliconbiosystems.com

About Menarini Silicon Biosystems

Menarini Silicon Biosystems offers unique rare cell technologies and solutions that provide clinical researchers with access to unparalleled resolution in the study of cells and their molecular characterization. Menarini Silicon Biosystems, based in Bologna, Italy, and Huntingdon Valley, Pa., U.S., is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Menarini Group, a multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics company headquartered in Florence, Italy, with more than 17,000 employees in 140 countries.

*For research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.