Particle Sizing Instrument Wins Gold

Affinity Biosensors is pleased to announce that its new particle characterisation platform, Archimedes, won the Editors’ Gold Award for Best New Product at Pittcon 2010.

ARCHIMEDES measures the mass, size, and density of particles as they enter a microfluidic channel contained within a MEMS resonator. Particles weighing as little as a single femtogram (0.000000000000001 g) and as small as 50 nanometers can be measured, giving resolution and accuracy superior to conventional light scattering methods. Archimedes addresses industrial manufacturing and R&D applications in pharmaceuticals and drug delivery; paints, inks, and coatings; advanced materials and chemicals; and in alternative energy and nanotechnology. The gentle fluidics also accommodates biological samples such as bacteria, algae, and other cells, with resolution a million times better than a quartz crystal microbalance.

Affinity Biosensors’ CEO, Ken Babcock, said: “It means a great deal to us to have Archimedes receive this recognition at Pittcon. Archimedes is the culmination of development that started with the pioneering work of Scott Manalis at MIT, continued with our MEMS partner Innovative Micro Technology, and was supported by the National Science Foundation. We believe this award anticipates the broad acceptance of Archimedes as a significant new approach to particle characterisation.”