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Overview
Broad Applications
The precise process control that AFA™ provides beneficially provides a number of scientific disciplines in both advanced biological and chemical applications. Covaris AFA enables a process to be developed and/or improved upon the performance of established processes.
Covaris provides versatile tools for a broad range of applications, including:
Genomics
- Controlled DNA shearing for next generation sequencing and library construction
- RNA extraction from various biological fluids and tissues, especially difficult tissues, such as skin, bones, corneal, muscle, seeds, leaves, etc.
Proteomics
Cell Biology
Chemistry and Pharmaceutical
Specialized Sample Preparation
The Covaris AFA is a basic technology which gives superior results in fluidization and mixing. In addition to providing instruments and consumables, we also offer custom research on various Specialized Sample Preparations, such as:
- sample preparation for in vitro diagnostic applications
- emulsion and flow cell related applications
Please contact Covaris for more details.
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The Sample Preparation Challenge
For almost all advanced biological and chemical applications, researchers usually follow the 3-step workflow:
- Sample collection
- Sample preparation
- Sample analysis
Sample preparation is a key step between the initial sample collection and the final sample analysis. With both sample collection and analysis processes being increasingly streamlined,( as well as more expensive)the sample preparation step has become a bottleneck due to lack of high-tech tools and an industrial style approach.
The objective of sample preparation is to break down the initial sample, usually a piece of tissue in the centimeter scale, to finer particles in the nanometer scale - so target molecules, such as nucleic acids, peptides, and metabolites can be released from the tissue for further processing
The following are several commonly used sample preparation processes and various concerns associated with each method due to their intrinsic characteristics:
- Chemical-based—concerns on harsh chemical and detergent interference to downstream reactions; also, the result of chemical-based process highly depends on the amount of surface area a sample has.
- Shear/stress-based—only reach ~100 micron size limit (instead of smaller molecular level), potential cross contamination from contact process.
- Pressure-based—concern of protein denaturation from elevated pressure and/or from thermal shocks
- Low-frequency "Sonicator"—heat damage and inconsistency, potential cross contamination from contact process.
In summary, unlike the above mentioned processes, the Covaris technology enables a fundamentally different physical process, which leads to controlled, quantitative and standardized sample preparation.
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The Covaris Solution
AFA Advantage
The Covaris Adaptive Focused Acoustics™ (AFA) technology platform enables numerous non-contact, isothermal processes to be developed. In many cases, the ability to impart both thermal and non-contact control of application processes could not have been obtained prior to the development of AFA technology.
As illustrated below, the key benefit of the Covaris technology is to effectively disrupt initial samples, such as tissue pieces, to molecular-level pieces (micron or submicron size), so the target molecules can be released for downstream processing. Most current methods of sample preparation cannot reach <100 µm easily. As a result, the Covaris process gives higher yield and better reproducibility. This also enables researchers from various company sites, or even different institutions, to apply the same protocol, compare data, and implement quality initiatives, such as the lean six-sigma programs. /p>
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Unique Design Philosophy
In addition to the benefits associated with the AFA technology, Covaris also has unique advantages from its philosophy on instrument design.
At Covaris, the goal of instrument design is to concurrently stabilize labile target molecules during the extraction process. The design for the Covaris instruments, sample vessels, waveforms and their positions, are all tailored to deliver the best quality and the highest yield target molecules, which includes DNA, RNA, protein, other metabolites, and small molecules.
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This design logic gives systematically effective doses to samples being processed. In comparison, the conventional, low-frequency "sonicating" process generates scattered, ineffective, and unaligned doses, which are then wasted
One Tool, Multiple Applications
Since the AFA is such a basic technology, and the Covaris instruments are such versatile tools for sample preparation, our customers frequently use the same Covaris device for multiple purposes. For example, the Covaris S2 is used by one group of researchers on DNA shearing, another group for RNA extraction, and the third group would run small molecule dissolutions/formulations. Since the technology is non-contact, Covaris instruments are ideal for a shared environment due to no clean-up, and no chance of cross-contamination.
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