Orchid BioSciences, Inc., a leading provider of genotyping products, services and technologies for genetic diversity analyses, launched its SNPware 384 kit for medium to high throughput SNP genotyping applications, the company reported.

This kit incorporates Orchid's proprietary SNP-IT genotyping technology in a standard 384-well plate format that can be used with Orchid's SNPstream 25K system or by using readily available 384-well-plate robotic liquid handlers found in many life sciences laboratories. The SNPware 384 kit launch was announced at the annual HUGO International Human Genome Meeting being held in Shanghai, China from April 14 to 17. Orchid researchers also are presenting posters and presentations at the HUGO meeting.

"Our SNPware 384 product is a versatile genotyping tool for a variety of SNP studies including screening, assessing specific SNP panels and evaluating small sets of SNPs on large numbers of samples," said Jack T. Ball, Jr., senior vice president and general manager of Orchid Life Sciences. "Orchid's technology in the 384-well kit format further illustrates how SNP-IT's flexibility enables it to be commercialized on a variety of platforms and in a range of throughputs that address the diverse needs of our varied customers."

SNPware 384 is based on SNP-IT primer extension technology on solid phase and robust two-color ELISA-based readout. The complete package includes access to Orchid's web-based primer design tool, Autoprimer.com, generic reagent kits and data analysis software. SNPware 384 allows the user to perform up to 384 genotypes per SNP-IT assay plate using a combination of readily available liquid handlers and/or manual pipetting. The throughput of the SNPware 384 assay ranges from low thousands of SNP genotypes per day when using liquid handling robotic systems to more than 20,000 per day when using the SNPstream 25K.

For customers who seek to conduct SNP studies at lower throughputs, Orchid markets other SNP-IT-based reagent kits and software developed for optimal integrated performance, including SNPware MT reagent kits for multiplexed genotyping using the SNPstream MT system, based on the Luminex xMap platform. Invitrogen markets SureScore, a kit that enables researchers to conduct low volume genotyping studies using standard 96-well plate readers or visual read-outs. SureScore is produced under license from Orchid and is available to researchers worldwide.

Orchid provides genotyping services on a fee-for-service basis to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural companies, using its high throughput SNPstream 25K system and its ultra high throughput, high density SNPcode platform, with up to 2,000 multiplexing that is well-suited for whole chromosome and genome-wide mapping studies. In early 2002, Orchid intends to add its ultra high throughput SNPstream UHT system that uses Orchid's next-generation SNP-IT tag array technology to its genotyping service facilities, and it plans to offer the SNPstream UHT as a product later in 2002. SNPstream UHT is designed to produce up to 140,000 genotypes in an eight-hour shift.