Bio-Rad Laboratories has been in clinical diagnostics for 40 years, starting with manual assay procedures and independent quality-control materials, but has since developed in specific areas such as quality controls, infectious diseases, autoimmune testing, diabetes management and haemoglobin screening.
Big heart, small footprint
In the last area, Bio-Rad has moved from manually operated open-column testing to fully automated analysers. These platforms can run large batches of samples and, in the case of the Variant II analyser, offer onboard primary tube handling coupled with cap piercing, barcode reading, data archiving and reagent tracking.
The most recent addition, the D-10 analyser, provides many of the benefits found on a large batch analyser but with a small footprint and, with 10 samples per run, a size suited to a smaller workload. The D-10 allows users to manage their work via Windows-based software and a user-friendly touch-sensitive screen. Designed for both primary tube handling (with cap piercing and onboard barcode reading) and prediluted samples as a prerequisite for any laboratory, the D-10 also features full reagent monitoring and data archiving.