Azure Biosystems Sapphire Biomolecular Imager

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The Sapphire Biomolecular Imager from Azure Biosystems is a next-generation laser scanning system that provides users with good data quality through sensitive detection, ultrahigh resolution and broad linear dynamic range. Applications include blot imaging (eg, western blots and southern blots of 2D DNA gels), gel imaging, tissue and small animal imaging (eg, whole zebrafish), and 96-well plate imaging.

The system supports long and short wavelengths of near-infrared fluorescence (NIR), red/green/blue (RGB) imaging, chemiluminescent imaging and phosphor imaging, as well as optical densitometry (OD) of proteins in stained gels. It uses up to four solid state lasers (488, 520, 658 and 784 nm), offering excitation sensitivity, and four-colour detection of fluorescent westerns. The imager also offers a photomultiplier tube (PMT) for fluorescence and phosphor imaging, avalanche photodiodes (APD) for near-infrared imaging, and a CCD sensor for chemiluminescent and visible imaging.

Chemiluminescent western blotting takes advantage of the enzymatic reaction between horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labelled secondary antibodies and an enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL) substrate to produce photons of light. The signal enhancement of the enzymatic reaction is useful for detecting small amounts of protein. The Sapphire is designed to deliver chemiluminescent detection with the same sensitivity as film, but with a broader dynamic range. The same three-detector technology that makes the Sapphire suitable for imaging western blots is also flexible enough to image a wide range of gels, whether they are ethidium bromide (EtBr)-stained DNA agarose gels, coomassie-stained protein gels or even 32P-labelled DNA acrylamide gels and more.

Other key features include image resolution down to 10 µm for high-quality image analysis and ultra-wide dynamic range for imaging and quantifying low and high abundance samples simultaneously. The system fully integrates with Sapphire Capture and AzureSpot software programs for quality imaging and analysis.