Gamma Medica-Ideas in conjunction with Oslo, Norway-based Biomolex AS recently introduced the Biomolex 700 Direct Digital Imager, a rapid-acquisition, solid-state instrument for imaging radiolabeled genomic microarrays, proteomic microarrays, and tissue sections, the companies said.

The Biomolex 700 features a high-purity silicon detector that is 20 times more sensitive than standard phosphor imagers and can achieve image resolution of better than 50 microns. Within its 3 x 6 centimeter field of view each photon emitted from a source is converted directly into a useful imaging signal. By contrast, current phosphor technology uses an indirect process in which photons are converted into light pulses that are then converted into imaging signals.

Additionally, according to the companies, the Biomolex 700's direct detection process is 10 times more efficient than the indirect process employed by phosphor technology. As a result, researchers will be able to achieve true quantification of radioisotope uptake for all common beta emitters -- C-14, S-35, P-33, P-32, and others.

The Biomolex 700 includes the following two features created to aid researchers:

• Real-time image viewing -- investigators can monitor experiments as they progress and conduct preliminary image analyses without interrupting image acquisitions; and
• Faster image acquisition -- images are produced in a fraction of the time required by traditional phosphor imagers.