Press Release

Media Contact Info:

Richard Parker, V.P. of Business and Technology     

Digilab,Inc.

84 October Hill Road,Holliston, MA 01746

Tel. 508-893-3130    Fax. 508-893-8011

John L. Tonkinson, Ph.D., VP Sales and Marketing    

Maine Manufacturing LLC. 

63 community drive, Sanford, ME   04073

Tel. 866-736-1250    Fax. 201-427-9155

Digilab to Market FAST Protein® Array Products

Holliston, Massachusetts, USA /  Sanford Maine, USA March 14 2011.

Under the agreement Digilab will market Maine Manufacturing’s FAST® line. Maine Manufacturing which has been manufacturing the FAST line for several years had recently signed an extended agreement with GE Healthcare granting Maine Manufacturing the exclusive right to all commercial aspects of the FAST® Protein Array product line.  The FAST product line is built around the nitrocellulose coated FAST Slide which has been cited in more than 150 publications and is used extensively for all protein array applications.  The product line also includes the FAST Quant micro ELISA arrays and the Serum Biomarker Chip, a family of multiplexed immunoassays for measuring key cellular growth proteins.  Maine Manufacturing has developed a fully automated manufacturing process for the FAST slides which significantly decreases variability, while increasing production capacity.  Reduced variability has been a critical component for the adoption of FAST slides for biomarker analysis through Reverse Phase Protein Arrays (RPPA).

“Many of Digilab’s proteomic customers that use Digilab instrumentation to develop biomarker panels will greatly benefit from this relationship. By partnering with Maine Manufacturing, we can offer complete workflow solutions where researchers using our instruments can print their protein arrays confidently on this well recognized and trusted substrate. ” said Joe Griffin, President of Digilab. “As part of the rapidly growing protein market, we see product and application synergies in academic and clinical research, pharmaceutical discovery and diagnostic development laboratories.”

“We are very excited to work with Digilab as a commercial outlet for the FAST product line”, stated Bill Emhiser, President of Maine Manufacturing.  “FAST is a recognized brand in the protein analysis market and these products are used world-wide for key proteomic studies.  The teams at both Maine Manufacturing and Digilab are extremely knowledgeable of the protein array market and are looking forward to working together on new and exciting applications for protein arrays” continued Emhiser.

About Digilab, Inc.
Digilab, Inc. provides imaginative, value-adding solutions for scientific discovery in life sciences, analytical chemistry, and diagnostics markets.  Products span DNA sample preparation systems for sequencing, protein and DNA micro arrayers, live cell arrayers, proteome preparation systems, nano & micro fluidic handling, and Raman compound identification. Digilab is identified by- and built on- the excellent reputation of its acquired brands including Genomic Solutions, Investigator, GeneMachines, Cartesian Dispensing Systems, BioRobotics, SpectraCode, and Maia Scientific. In addition, Digilab has developed its own live cell printer, the CellJet, and high throughput screening Raman reader, the Identity. These brands have well established global presence from the thousands of customers worldwide. For more information, visit www.digilabglobal.com.

About Maine Manufacturing, Inc.

Maine Manufacturing is a global, sustainable and responsible business providing creative, value-added solutions and specialty manufacturing for precision-molded plastic, filtration, membrane and biological technologies.  Located in Sanford, ME, Maine Manufacturing works with partner companies to conceptualize, develop and manufacture products that are used for biological analysis and molecular reactions.  Maine Manufacturing is ISO-9001 Certified. for more information visit www.mfgmaine.com