Singapore, Mar 19, 2010: Sydney based Gelcompany has made the first sale of its new High Performance Electrophoresis (HPE) FlatTop Tower system into Saudi Arabia. The buyer of three complete HPE systems is Dr Shareef Antar from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia.

KAUST is a new research university that is dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr Shareef Antar is the Chief Research Specialist in the Proteomics Core Laboratory within the Biosciences and Bioengineering Department. KAUST is the realisation of a decade long vision of King Adbullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Dr Shareef Antar said, “We have selected Gelcompany’s HPE system for our new facility as it represents the next generation in protein electrophoresis. The HPE system fits within the vision of KAUST of applying the latest technology to inspire a new age in scientific research. The results from the HPE system are impressive and with the high throughput advantages we are confident KAUST will be the premier research facility in the region.”

Mr James Walker, CEO, Gelcompany said, “We are very happy to be working with Dr Antar and his team and it is very satisfying that our technology is being adopted by one of the newest proteomics research facilities in the world.”

The HPE system was launched late last year and its technology enables higher resolution, reproducibility and ease-of-use in 1D and 2D gel electrophoresis separations than any other system. In 2D electrophoresis the breakthrough HPE technology can detect up to 15 per cent more proteins spots because it uses thinner pre-cast gels and a more efficient cooling system with higher electric field strength. This results in running times of around four hours and produces greater resolution and sharper bands or spots.

The new HPE system uses 1D and 2D pre-cast gels in an easy-to-use FlatTop Tower with four horizontal electrophoresis platforms in one system. The quality-controlled, pre-casted HPE gels on plastic backing are laid onto the cooling plates – doing away with the time-consuming vertical electrophoresis preparation of glass gel cassettes.

The HPE gels have a one year shelf-life and remain stable during storage. The equilibration buffer is provided with the HPE gels – meaning fewer variables than conventional electrophoresis.