Newsletter September 2006 Contents • SCHOTT Profile Sales and Tech Support North America • Comarative Genomic Hybridization • New low evaporation spotting buffer • News and Exhibition calendar

1. Microarray Solutions
The SCHOTT Nexterion® Newsletter N° 1
March 2006
Page 2 to our first issue of the “Microarray Solutions” newsletter, designed to keep members of the life sci-
Welcome Foreword by Dr. Lutz Wehmeier (General Manager)
ences community informed history developments at SCHOTT Nexterion® and to highlight some of the interesting
Short about of SCHOTT Nexterion®
microarray applications that our products are currently being used for.
Page 3 Nexterion® HiSens Slides
“Signal and sensitivity enhancement through an optical interference coating for
DNA and protein microarray applications” is the title of new scientific paper written
by Dr. Rajendra Redkar, R&D Scientist at SCHOTT Nexterion® in Duryea, PA.
“Microarray Solutions” gives you an insight into some of the key elements behind this pa-
per and explains why users are reporting up to an 8x increase in signal intensity over
regular slides with the new HiSens slides from SCHOTT Nexterion®.
Page 4 Ambion HiSens E evaluation produces “incredible” results
A report on Ambion's recent evaluation of Nexterion HiSens E slides with its miRNA probe
set in which it saw an average 8 fold increase in signal intensity over regular glass slides,
leading the company to declare that SCHOTT "has developed another premier microarray
substrate."
Page 5 Microplates for arraying
Ever thought about using the microtiter plate format for high throughput arraying?
Are you unhappy about the performance of 96 well polymeric and glass bottom
plates on the market? Not sure if your arrayer is capable of arraying into plates or
need advice on suitable microplate scanners?
Alistair Rees (International Product Manager for Coated Substrates) discusses the new
Nexterion® MTP 96 microplate and highlights some of the compatible arrayers and scan-
ners available on the market.
Page 7 New Product Developments
• New Surfaces for Protein and Glycan Microarrays
• New and Improved Slide Storage Boxes for Microarray Slides
Page 8 Technical Support in Focus
Having problems with signal intensity and or too high background? Interested in increas-
ing spot size or improving spot morphology? Looking at ways to reduce the number of
protocol steps? SCHOTT Nexterion® prides itself on offering the best technical support to
customers and starting in the next edition, “Microarray Solutions” will bring you a section
focusing on the most interesting trouble shooting issues addressed by our technical sup-
port team and a Q&A section dedicated to tech support questions received from our read-
ers.
Page 9 In October 2004, SCHOTT Nexterion® opened what it considers to be the most mod-
ern and hi-tech microarray slide production facility in the world.
Production Director Christian Jabschinsky gives you an overview of the challenges
SCHOTT faces to produce the highest quality microarray substrates and gives you a be-
hind the scenes insight into how this multi-million dollar facility operates.
Page 11 Conference and Exhibition Calendar 2005/06

2. page 2 Microarray Solutions
Foreword
SCHOTT Nexterion® has come a long way since our formation back in
October 2002. For those of you who are not familiar with our story, here
is a brief overview of the changes that have occurred at Nexterion® over
the past few years. The SCHOTT Nexterion® unit was created as a result
of the Vision 2010 project during which the SCHOTT unit identified poten-
tial new market segments that had high growth potential. Nexterion® Slide
A, one of the Aminosilane coated slides in our portfolio, was the first
product to be launched by the company in 2002. I joined the company
soon after as General Manager in 2003 having spent several years run-
ning the microarray business at MWG Biotech. We spent the next few
months working hard to integrate the microarray slide business that had
been acquired from Quantifoil, which resulted in the addition of several
new surface chemistries and reagents being added to our portfolio. Just
12 months later saw the completion of our new multi-million Euro slide
production facility in Jena, where all Nexterion® products are now manu-
factured using modern, state-of-the-art technology. We also relocated the
Nexterion® business unit from the SCHOTT corporate headquarters in
Mainz to SCHOTT Jenaer Glas in Jena. Jena is an award-winning bio-
technology hotspot in Germany offering Nexterion® potential synergies
with other biotech companies, as well as close links with the life science
driven academic community, making it an ideal location for our microar-
ray business.
Nexterion® has grown rapidly since 2002 and we are now proud to offer
the broadest range of high quality substrates for DNA and protein arrays,
both in a slide a microplate format. We have the privilege of supplying
microarray consumables to some of the most important microarraying
Dr. Lutz Wehmeier sites in the world and our aim to introduce exciting and innovative
General Manager
SCHOTT Nexterion® products into the microarray substrate market resulted this year in the
launch of the MTP 96 microplate array format, a natural progression from
our Multiplex (MPX) 16 and 48-well formats, and our new signal
enhancing slide coating called HiSens. We have very high expectations
for both products and will continue to strive to offer our customers the
most innovative, forward-thinking microarray consumables.
During 2005, SCHOTT Nexterion also entered into a number of
collaborations with high-profile life sciences companies in the US and
Europe and this is set to continue in 2006. A co-marketing agreement
with Operon was signed in 2005 and resulted in the launch of a kit of
slides and processing reagents optimized around the Operon 70 mer
oligonucleotides. We also recently finalized a co-marketing agreement
with Genomic Solutions and Alpha Innotech to promote arraying into
microplates and will be organizing joint workshops with these two
companies later this year. Several other important collaborations have
been established behind the scenes, some of which will be announced
before the end of the year, and these relationships clearly demonstrate
the outstanding reputation SCHOTT Nexterion is developing throughout
the world for microarray substrates and consumables.
We are excited about the future of SCHOTT Nexterion®, and hope that
you will enjoy future issues of this e-newsletter as we update you on fur-
SCHOTT JENAer GLAS GmbH
ther developments. In this edition of “Microarray Solutions”, you will find
articles on our new range of HiSens and MTP products, plus some inter-
esting information about our state-of-the-art production facility in Jena.
We have also included a feature on Ambion and their miRNA probe sets
and how HiSens slides have really changed the way of thinking at Am-
bion. If you have suggestions about ways to make these updates more
effective or articles you would like to see, please feel free to contact
Karola at karola.koban@schott.com.
Regards,
Dr. Lutz Wehmeier

3. Microarray Solutions page 3
Nexterion® HiSens Slides
Limitations of Regular Slides for Certain Applications
Microarray technology has been accepted as a preferred gene expres-
sion tool in basic science research such as genotyping, metabolic path-
ways, cancer research, toxicology, and functional genomics. Because
this technology utilizes thousands of DNA/antibody probes representing
the genome or proteome, it can be used for simultaneous detection and
identification of organisms as it offers several important advantages over
“Signal and sensitivity en- the standard PCR and ELISA-based detection methods. However, mi-
hancement through an optical croarray technology has struggled to its logical progression into the diag-
interference coating for DNA nostic field due to a lack of standardization. One such problem is the lack
and protein microarray appli- of sensitivity of the microarray data, making it difficult to separate the
cations” is the title of new experimentally induced variation from the true biological results. In many
scientific paper written by Dr. instances the amount of RNA is limiting and the activity of low expressing
Rajendra Redkar, R&D Scien- genes such as regulatory transcription factors may not be clearly quanti-
tist at SCHOTT Nexterion® in fiable. Alternative labeling systems, signal amplification methods and
Duryea, PA. detection technologies have all been developed in an attempt to increase
the microarray sensitivity. However these alternatives are not cost-
“Microarray Solutions” gives you effective and/or require cumbersome procedures, often deviating away
an insight into some of the key from standard protocols that researchers are comfortable with. The new
elements behind this paper and HiSens slides from SCHOTT Nexterion® offer a cost-effective solution to
explains why users are reporting the sensitivity issue and are compatible with routinely used microarray
up to an 8x increase in signal equipment and protocols, which coupled with higher detection sensitivity
intensity over regular slides with could be critical in developing diagnostic assays.
the new HiSens slides from
SCHOTT Nexterion®. Optical Interference Coating to Increase Signal Intensity
The optical interference coating deposited on the HiSens slides is com-
prised of a multi-layered, dielectric, thin-film interference coating. The
optical interference coating was carefully optimized to yield a product with
consistent quality that could easily be integrated into SCHOTT Nexte-
rion®’s large-scale production facility in Jena. Several specific production
steps were developed to maintain the integrity of the optical interference
coatings. Briefly, the thin-film dielectric coating works on the phenomenon
of optical interference, which can be either constructive or destructive. By
design, the interference is made constructive to enhance the photoab-
sorption of the Cy3 and Cy5 dyes at the surface or in the vicinity of the
surface (within ~60 nm from of the substrate), and also to reflect and
redirect the microarray fluorescence signals toward the detector during
scanning. The HiSens slide, therefore, differs from slides with metallic
coatings that are currently on the market where the signal is only en-
hanced due to reflection.
Validation experiments with HiSens slides have shown a greater than
eight-fold signal amplification in both Cy3 and Cy5 channels, thus provid-
ing an order of magnitude increase in signal intensity. This leads to sig-
nificantly higher signal-to-noise ratios in microarray experiments. Any
Nexterion® HiSens Slides functional coating (Epoxysilane, Aminosilane etc.) can be applied on top
of the optical interference coating for subsequent biomolecular attach-
ment and consequently the HiSens slides can be used in place of tradi-
tional slides without any protocol modifications. The HiSens slides have
been tested using contact and non-contact microarray printers, as well as
laser and CCD-based scanners, and have proven to be fully compatible
with most commercially available microarray equipment.
HiSens for Different Applications
According to Alistair Rees, International Product Manager for Coated
Slides, a wide range of applications are likely to benefit from the use of
the HiSens slides. For example, applications in which researchers have
only a limited amount of target material, or in which amplification of mate-

4. page 4 Microarray Solutions
rial is difficult or problematic. The latter includes measurement of biopsy
samples and miRNA (see Ambion article below), as well as gene expres-
sion monitoring and diagnostics involving weak signals.
SCHOTT Nexterion® officially launched the Nexterion® HiSens slides in
January with the Nexterion® Slide A (Aminosilane) and Nexterion® Slide
E (Epoxysilane) functional coatings. HiSens slides will be available with
other Nexterion® surface chemistries in the near future.
Dr. Rajendra Redkar's paper "Signal and sensitivity enhancement
through optical interference coating for DNA and protein microarray
applications" can be seen in full at the citation Journal of Biomolecular
Techniques 17(2): 122-130 (2006).
Ambion HiSens study produces “incredible” results
Ambion’s mirVana miRNA Probe Set is a collection of amine-modified
DNA oligonucleotides targeting a comprehensive selection of human,
mouse, and rat miRNAs from miRBase. Developed in conjunction with
“HiSens E provided incredible the mirVana™miRNA Labeling Kit, the mirVana miRNA Probe Set is de-
signal and high signal-to-noise, signed for preparation of “miRNA arrays” on glass slides. Previously
even with significantly lower tar- Ambion, Inc. had used the Nexterion® Slide E epoxy slides to produce the
get concentration… and provided miRNA arrays with great success. Ambion’s familiarity with the Slide E
an average of 8 fold increase in surface chemistry made them the perfect candidate to test the new
signal intensity (over regular HiSens E slides and Jeffrey Shelton in the R&D Division at Ambion was
slides)” – Jeffrey Shelton of Am- sent some of the very first HiSens slides produced by SCHOTT to evalu-
bion, Inc. ate.
In the evaluation, the mirVana miRNA probes were printed onto 25
SCHOTT Nexterion® Slide E slides and 25 HiSens Slide E slides on the
same print run. The miRNA fraction from 20 µg, 5 µg, and 2 µg of RNA
from human bladder and lung were labeled using the mirVana™ miRNA
Labeling Kit, and fluorescent dyes were attached using standard coupling
procedures. The fluorescently labeled bladder and lung miRNA were
mixed and hybridized on duplicate arrays for each substrate type.
Slide E vs HiSens E 20 ug eq bladder “The HiSens slides provided an average of 8 fold increase in signal inten-
vs lung miRNA tested by Ambion sity for each starting mass equivalent, with no detectable loss of signal to
noise ratios. The signal I obtained from the 2µg equivalents was much
greater than I had ever seen for that starting mass amount. I normally
Nexterion® had to use greater than 20µg equivalents to obtain an equivalent signal
Slide E on the Slide E or similar substrates,” Jeffrey Shelton reported.
Shelton went on to say, “The amine-modification of the mirVana miRNA
probes makes them ideally suited for use with epoxy or aldehyde surface
chemistries. We have recommended SCHOTT Nexterion® Slide E mi-
croarray slides as they are convenient, easy to use, and provide consis-
Nexterion® tent results. However, since this evaluation, it is our intention to recom-
HiSens E mend the Nexterion® HiSens E to customers who wish to maximize the
signal from small starting mass RNA fractions. With HiSens E, SCHOTT
Nexterion® has developed another premier microarray substrate.”
Although other microarray slides claiming to enhance signal intensity
have appeared on the market in the past, with some still commercially
available today, this type of slide has failed on the whole to take off with
users typically complaining of poor slide reproducibility, long lead times to
get hold of the slides and usually a very high price. “I have tried other
manufacturers’ reflective substrate slides in the past and was not at all
impressed”, continued Shelton. “I went into this beta test of HiSens E
somewhat skeptical, but now I’m your newest customer! The HiSens E
slides provided incredible signal, high signal-to-noise, and no significant
increase in background.”

5. Microarray Solutions page 5
The results of the HiSens evaluation carried out by Ambion clearly dem-
onstrate that HiSens slides could be an invaluable tool for applications in
which researchers have only a limited amount of target material, or in
For further information on Ambion, which amplification of material is difficult or problematic. This is particu-
Inc. and its range of products, in- larly the case for miRNA microarrays because the miRNA is only a minor
cluding the mirVana miRNA Probe part of the whole RNA fraction (around 1/10000), but HiSens could also
Set, please visit the Ambion web- be a useful tool for biopsy samples, as well as gene expression monitor-
site at www.ambion.com ing and diagnostics involving weak signals. Many signal amplification
techniques have been developed in recent years to combat this problem
but most of these techniques raise questions about biased amplification
that could ultimately affect the quality of the experimental results. With
Nexterion® HiSens slides, these concerns are eliminated and Ambion is
likely to be the first of many customers to benefit from this exciting new
technology from SCHOTT Nexterion.
Microplates for arraying
Although the microtiter plate format has been a standard research tool for
clinical diagnostics and drug discovery for some time, it still has not be-
Ever thought about using the come a popular microarray tool despite the recent introduction of high-
microtiter plate format for high resolution plate scanners and compatible arrayers. Feedback from the
throughput arraying, but un- market, however, seems to indicate that this technology may finally be
happy about the 96 well poly- coming to the fore and many companies are now actively looking to intro-
meric and glass bottom plates duce products that will allow users to pursue high-throughput microarray-
on the market? Not sure if your ing with the microtiter plate format.
arrayer is capable of arraying
into plates or need advice on SCHOTT’s new 96-well glass bottom microtiterplates are the result of two
suitable microplate scanners? years of development work at one of SCHOTT Nexterion®’s R&D Centers
of Excellence in Duryea, PA and were developed in response to market
Alistair Rees (International Prod- demand, which indicated that there were numerous limitations with con-
uct Manager for Coated Sub- ventional 96 well polymeric and existing glass bottom microtiter plates
strates) discusses the new Nex- utilized in microarraying.
terion® MTP 96 microplate and
highlights some of the compatible Some of the weaknesses identified in these existing products included:
arrayers and scanners on the • Printable area per well: microarray print heads cannot access the
market. entire well plate area because the wells are recessed, thus limiting the
number of features per well and arrayer compatibility.
• Print time: the depth of the wells, and the subsequent additional Z-
axis travel, makes printing time consuming.
• Well contamination: the intra-well print area may be restricted due to
the contamination of the well edges with bonding adhesive. In addi-
tion, adhesive out-gassing can affect functional coating performance.
• Coating range & uniformity: difficulty in uniformly applying functional
coatings to three dimensional polymeric microtiter plates.
• Plate flatness: conventional microtiter plates suffer from poor optical
transparence and flatness.
In collaboration with a high-profile biotech company in the San Francisco
Bay Area, and in consultation with several customers in Europe and the
US, SCHOTT Nexterion® took up the challenge of designing a product
that eliminated the key weaknesses outlined above and offered its own
unique characteristics to assist customers. Dan Haines, Advanced Mate-
Nexterion® Microtiterplate Kit rials & Coatings Research Scientist at Schott North America in Duryea,
PA and head of the team that designed the Nexterion® MTP microarray
products, is extremely satisfied with the final product design. “We are
excited to provide a new research platform that combines our high quality
coatings with an innovative 96-well microtiter plate design that makes the
transition from (multiplexed) microscope slides to microtiter plates seam-
less. The low-fluorescent glass plate can be printed/processed/scanned
without it ever being removed from its tray for those users desiring high

6. page 6 Microarray Solutions
throughput – alternatively, the plate can be quickly and easily re-
® moved/inserted depending on the experimental protocols and equipment
Nexterion MTP 96 Microtiterplate
Kit consists of three main available to the researcher. Well contamination problems are resolved by
components use of a recessed adhesive on the superstructure that preferentially binds
to the hydrophobic patterning material. The removable superstructure
allows for unencumbered full area printing of the wells while allowing
hybridization and wash volumes up to 200 µl/well. This platform has
been validated both by our customers and equipment partners Alpha
Innotech and Genomic Solutions. For a researcher desiring higher ex-
perimental throughput while maintaining current slide-based protocols
and procedures, the Nexterion® MTP platform provides a flexible tool.”
Glass Plate Nexterion® MTP 96 consists of three main components: a microarray
quality patterned glass substrate, a 96-well silicone superstructure and a
microtiter plate tray support. It is available as a complete kit or as sepa-
rate components, with the glass substrates offered with either the Slide E
(Epoxy) or Slide A (Aminosilane) functional coatings or as uncoated glass
for custom applications. The Nexterion® MTP 96 design fully conforms to
SBS (Society for Biomolecular Screening) standards and is suitable for
high-throughput robotic handling. One of the major benefits of the Nexte-
Superstructure rion® MTP 96 plate is that the design of the kit components allows the
plate to be used in any make of microplate arrayer. Over 1000 spots can
be printed into each of the 96 wells due to the larger effective well area
(49mm2) and printing time is significantly reduced as the printing pins are
subject to less Z axis travel compared to conventional 96 well microtiter
plates.
Microplate Array Printers
Modern robotic arrayers, both contact and non-contact, are already
equipped to handle the 96-well format and many have pre-programmed
Tray, lid, fixing pins definitions for the Nexterion® MTP 96 plates, thus simplifying set up.
and sealing film
However it may be necessary to purchase additional array control soft-
ware and a replacement arraying bed to hold the microplates during print-
ing.
The following table details arrayers can be modified to array into mi-
croplates:
Arrayer Deposition Destination
method microplate
Arrayjet AJ120 Non-contact 20
Aushon Biosystems 2470 Contact 20
Bio-Rad BioOdyssey Calligrapher Contact 2
Bio-Rad VersArray ChipWriter Pro Non-contact 1
GeneMachines OmniGrid Accent Contact 6
Genetix QArray2 Contact 16
Genetix QArray mini Contact 4
Genomic solutions MicroGrid Contact 16
Lab Next Xact Contact 2
Lab Next THOMAS™ Contact 9
PerkinElmer Piezorray Non-contact 5
Scienion sciFLEXARRAYER Non-contact 4
Telechem NanoPrint™ Contact 12
The Genomic Solutions arrayers have defined parameters for the Nexte-
rion® MTP 96 microplates in the plate arraying software. A software up-
grade is available from Genomic Solutions to accommodate the switch
from slides to Nexterion® MTP 96 for the OmniGrid Accent model.

7. Microarray Solutions page 7
Microplate Scanners
Arguably the biggest obstacle to the wider use of microplate arrays has
been the lack of access to microplate compatible high-resolution scan-
ners. A number of suitable scanners are now commercially available and
the following table details some of the scanners that are compatible with
the Nexterion® MTP 96 microplate:
Manufacturer Model
Alpha Innotech Corporation NovaRay® Detection Platform
Blueshift Biotechnologies, Inc IsoCyte™ laser scanning
fluorimeter
TECAN Laser Scanner
The Alpha Innotech NovaRay® Detection Platform is compatible with both
slides and microplates and offers multi-spectral imaging with eight emis-
sion wavelengths. A less well-known system is the IsoCyte™ Benchtop
NEXTERION NEWSFLASH! Laser Scanner from Blueshift Biotechnologies in Sunnyvale, CA. The
scanner was developed for high throughput analysis of array-, bead- or
US Government Awards SCHOTT $1M
to Develop Microarray Platform for live cell-based assays in microplates and on slides and the company
Pathogen Detection claims that the system can scan a microplate such as Nexterion® MTP 96
is less than two minutes. According to Blueshift Biotechnologies, the sys-
The US government has allotted $1 tem accomplishes this task by fast “object” characterization (e.g. spots or
million of its defense appropriations bill to
Schott North America to develop a mi- cells) and unique imaging in the fluorescence polarization domain.
croarray-based platform for detecting
biological agents, Schott said recently. SCHOTT Nexterion® recently partnered with Genomic Solutions and
According to Duryea, Penn.-based Schott
Alpha Innotech at the Plant & Animal Genome Conference in San Diego,
NA, the funding was secured through the CA to demonstrate the ease of use and flexibility offered by the Nexte-
offices of Congressman Paul Kanjorksi rion® MTP 96 system and its compatibility with the Genomic Solutions
(D-Penn.). Schott will collaborate with the
MicroGrid and OmniGrid arrayers and the NovaRay® Detection Platform
University of Scranton's Institute of Mo-
lecular Biology and Medicine to develop from Alpha Innotech. Jeremy Clarke, Global Product Manager at Ge-
the fully automated and multiplexed nomic Solutions, was impressed by the level of interest shown at the
microarray platform, the company said. conference and clearly feels that the MTP format is now seriously being
considered as a suitable tool for high-throughput microarraying. “The
The new platform would be a 96-well
microarray, with the potential to screen presentation was well attended and significant interest in the products
for up to 2,000 pathogens in each well, from all three companies was registered by attendees, both during and
Schott said. after the event, suggesting that the microtiter plate format is finally being
considered by researchers as a serious microarray tool for the near fu-
ture”, Clarke told “Microarray Solutions”. All three companies are commit-
ted to continuing this relationship in an effort to promote microplates and
three further workshops are planned for the US in May in San Francisco,
CA, Houston, TX and Boston, MA. Clarke went on to say, “We are look-
ing forward to continuing our relationship with SCHOTT Nexterion® and
Alpha Innotech. Together, we offer a range of complementary products
which provide the best solution for fulfilling the new protein arraying work-
flow”.
Details of the forthcoming workshops with Genomic Solutions and Alpha
Innotech will be available soon, including an agenda and list of invited
speakers for the three locations. Please contact Karola at coatedsub-
strate@schott.com for further information.

8. page 8 Microarray Solutions
New Product Developments
SCHOTT Nexterion® to Develop New Surfaces for Protein and Gly-
can Microarrays
In consultation with customers and collaborators, SCHOTT Nexterion®
has identified protein and glycan microarrays as promising applications
with large growth potential for the future. The feedback that we have re-
ceived from the market so far indicates that one of the biggest challenges
facing customers is the directed immobilization of probe molecules and
SCHOTT Nexterion® is now focusing some of its R&D efforts on identify-
ing suitable surfaces to resolve this issue.
We are also looking to expand our product portfolio by offering additional
surfaces for direct immobilization of different probe molecules, for exam-
ple His-tag, maltose binding protein or lectin coatings. We are very inter-
ested in getting feedback from customers on what type of surfaces they
would like to see offered by SCHOTT Nexterion® in the future. Please
feel free to send your suggestions to us and one of our R&D team mem-
bers will contact you to discuss your ideas in greater detail. Please sub-
mit your ideas to coatedsubstrate@schott.com and help develop the next
generation microarray slide surfaces!
SCHOTT Nexterion® Announces New and Improved Slide Storage
Boxes for Microarray Slides
SCHOTT Nexterion® has introduced a new 25-slide storage box for its
microarray slides which will replace the current 5-slide mailers used for
Nexterion® Slide A+ and AL. This new rigid slide box does not shed plas-
tic particles or outgas plasticizer and allows SCHOTT Nexterion® to send
the products in 25-slide storage boxes. Unique design features include
tabs that are moulded into the lid to prevent the glass substrates from
moving, thus reducing the risk of breakage during transportation, and a
New Nexterion® 25-slide storage box new hinge lid with a catch which prevents accidental opening of the stor-
age box.

9. Microarray Solutions page 9
Technical Support in Focus
Name: Ruediger Dietrich
Having problems with signal intensity and or too high background? Inter-
Location: Jena
ested in increasing spot size or improving spot morphology? Looking at
Job Details: Director R&D ways to avoid certain protocol steps? SCHOTT Nexterion® prides itself on
and Tech Support offering the best technical support to customers. That’s why we will bring
Likes: good food you a section with the most interesting troubleshooting issues addressed
Dislikes: bad food by our technical support team starting in next edition of “Microarray Solu-
Interests: hiking, skiing, tions”. In addition, we planned to include a Q&A section dedicated to tech
kayaking, preparation of support questions received from our readers.
food like cheese, marinated
herrings, sauerkraut etc.
Meet Nexterion’s Technical Support Team - Dr. Ruediger Dietrich, Direc-
tor of R&D at the SCHOTT Nexterion HQ in Jena, Germany and Mike
Wotring, R&D Scientist at one of SCHOTT’s R&D Centers of Excellence
in Duryea, PA. As Nexterion’s Technical Support Specialists, Ruediger
and Mike are involved with all technical aspects of our product line - from
new product development to protocol optimization, as well as ongoing
Name: Mike Wotring customer application support.
Location: Duryea
Job Details R&D Scientist Ruediger and Mike have been active in responding to numerous requests
Likes: Travel for technical support from customers all over the world. Future editions of
Dislikes: There's never “Microarray Solutions” will feature some of the most interesting trouble-
enough time to see every- shooting issues addressed by Ruediger and Mike, including case studies
thing!
demonstrating how they responded to a specific customer application
Interests: Reading, cook-
ing, hiking, kayaking issue and were able to help the customer obtain better results. The new
“Technical Support in Focus” section will also allow you to submit your
technical questions to Ruediger and Mike, some of which we will feature
in future editions of “Microarray Solutions”.
Do you have a protocol problem or need help optimizing your microarray
application? Please submit your question to:
coatedsubstrate@us.schott.com
Your question may be featured in future editions of the “Microarray Solu-
tions”.

10. page 10 Microarray Solutions
State of the art Microarray Substrate Production Facility
Q: How long have you worked for SCHOTT? And where do you work
prior to SCHOTT?
I have worked for SCHOTT since September 2003. I transferred when
SCHOTT acquired the microarray business from Quantifoil Micro Tools
In October 2004, SCHOTT Nex- who were also based in Jena (Germany). I originally joined Quantifoil just
terion opened what it consid- as they started their microarray slide business in May 1999, so I have
ers to be the most modern and many years experience in microarray slide production! Prior to Quantifoil,
hi-tech microarray slide pro- I studied medical engineering at the University of Applied Science in
duction facility in the world. Jena.
Q: How long has SCHOTT been producing microarray substrates?
Production Director Christian SCHOTT originally developed and started to manufacture the first Nexte-
Jabschinsky gives you an over- rion® microarray product, our Aminosilane coated Slide A, at Duryea in
view of the challenges SCHOTT Pennsylvania back in October 2002. At SCHOTT in Jena, we have been
faces to produce the highest producing coated slides since October 2004, when we commissioned the
quality microarray substrates and new substrate production facility. Virtually all the personal involved in the
gives you a behind-the-scenes Quantifoil microarray slide business transferred to SCHOTT when they
insight into how this multi-million acquired us. This means that we have microarray slide development and
dollar facility operates. production expertise that goes back over seven years.
Q: Why is Jena a good location for SCHOTT's biotech business?
The tradition for scientific based enterprises in Jena goes back to Carl
Zeiss, when in 1846 he created his first workshop here. Much more re-
cently in 1996, the BioRegio network Jena won the German BioRegio
competition with its "bio instrument Jena" concept. The network consists
of established companies like Carl Zeiss and SCHOTT and the younger
companies like Jenoptik, together with over 31 start up companies many
spun off from the University. In addition, there are several major aca-
demic institutes in Jena also involved in the network. We have benefited
from our close cooperation with the University, in particular the Institute of
surface coating, as we have many students on placement working at
SCHOTT.
Q: Can you summarize the production process in your facility?
The first step is glass production.
One of the reasons why SCHOTT built the new slide production facility
here in Jena was because the glass we use for our microarray substrates
is manufactured on this site. This gives us total control over the quality of
Float Glass Production glass we use for our microarray substrates. Large sheets of glass are
brought in from the production unit next door. We then carry the initial
processing in a “grey room” environment.
The pre-cleaned glass is laser cut into microscope slide size or other
formats. The laser cutting process is a technology developed by
SCHOTT, and is a major advantage from a production point of view as
the cut glass has perfect edges that do not require any further finishing.
In addition, the cutting process does not produce particles or micro frac-
tures that might cause us problems later. After cutting the glass under-
goes a “pre-quality” check to ensure that there are no scratches or de-
fects in the glass.
If the slides are going to have bar codes, we apply a laser bonded bar
code to the glass at this stage. This is a very flexible system, and for
some customers we produce custom logos or dedicated bar codes such
as two-dimensional barcodes. For the new HiSens slides we apply the
Glass Cleaning optical coating at this stage prior to applying the functional coating. If
required, we can also add the MTP / MPX pattering to the substrates at
this point.
The next step is a glass cleaning process done under class 100 clean
room condition; at this point we either pack the cleaned uncoated slides
for sale to our customers or go on to apply the functional chemistry coat-
ings. In our Jena plant, we have the option of five different coating meth-
ods. The facility has been designed to enable us to produce large slide

11. Microarray Solutions page 11
batches, but is flexible enough to process other substrate formats such
as the microplate.
After the cleaning the slides have to pass a three-stage quality control
1. 100% inspection of all slides by an automated camera based detector
system. This system checks the geometrical properties and the homo-
geneity of the glass. It also detects if there are any scratches or particles.
2. We analyze the coated surface by measuring the contact angle and
the background signal.
3. We put a representative number of slides from each batch through a
real wet lab “biological” experiment to ensure they perform as they
should.
The last stage is Packaging.
The substrates are packaged in specially designed boxes under inert
condition and in a light proof pouch. Then we apply label with product
information and expiry dates. We have a production planning system that
allows us to hold enough stock to meet our expected customer demand.
Q: What are the most challenging aspects of producing high quality
Quality Control microarray slides?
We want to produce slides that are totally consistent batch to batch and
that arrive at our customers’ sites in perfect condition. The slide produc-
tion process has many complex steps all of which have to be tightly con-
trolled. In addition, we have to take into account shipping conditions
when we design our packaging.
Q: How does SCHOTT assure that costumers get the highest quality
microarray products?
We have developed an extensive quality assurance system. Every batch
of slides is supplied with a quality certificate. We expect to have DIN EN
ISO 9001 certification by the end of March 2006. The next step will be
DIN EN ISO 13485, a quality management certification for medical de-
vices equivalent to GMP. We have a growing number of industrial slide
customers who demand very high quality standards.
Name: Christian Jabschin- Q: What key skills are required to do your job?
sky
Location: Jena
As we say in German a “gutes Rückgrat” - a good backbone because I
Job Details SCHOTT
have demands from all quarters. I manage a team of twelve people with
®
Nexterion Production
different skill levels, so I have to be a good diplomat. I have to be multi-
Director skilled in my job, as I have to know about many different subjects: surface
Personal facts: Married chemistry, glass technology, molecular biology and mechanical engineer-
with 2 daughters (who keep ing.
him well occupied!) Q: What part of the job do you find most satisfying?
Outside work interests:
I enjoy having new challenges each day, it keep things interesting. It is
Sports especially hand ball, good to work in an environment with a lot of knowledgeable people who
fine malt whisky, and ad-
venture traveling are all pulling together in the same direction to produce a high quality
product. I really like it when we get positive feedback from our customers
about how much they like using our products.
Q: What would you say were the unique features of the Nexterion®
microarray slides?
I am most proud of our Epoxy coated slides; tests have shown that our
Slide E is the most stable and reproducible epoxy coated slide. The next
thing is our glass. Being part of SCHOTT we are able to select the best
glass for our products. The borofloat glass has excellent physical and
chemistry properties. We are very excited about the potential of our new
HiSens optical coating, and I think it gives us an edge over our competi-
tors.
Q: How has the range of functional slide coatings changed over the
years?
Although the DNA microarray slide market is still growing we are seeing a
much higher customer demand for surfaces designed for protein arraying.
Q: What new projects have you worked on recently?
I have been heavily involved in the MTP microplate and HiSens project
stabilizing the production process and starting to ramp up production.

12. page 12 Microarray Solutions
Conference and Exhibition Calendar 2005/06
AMT is probably the leading European event in the microarray
field. More than 200 attendees and 17 exhibitors attended AMT
Event: Advances in Microarray 2005 to discover the latest developments in microarray tech-
Technology (AMT 2005) nology. SCHOTT Nexterion® presented a talk entitled “Future
Location: London developments in microarray glass slides technology”.
Date: 11 - 13 October 2005 Please contact us at coatedsubstrates@us.schott.com if you
would like a pdf copy of the presentation.
The protein and microplate array workshop jointly presented by
SCHOTT, Genomic solutions and Alpha Innotech was well re-
Event: Plant and Animal genome ceived. If you would like a copy of the “Protein Microarrays:
Location: San Diego, CA Approaches to Printing” presentation by Dr Steven Suchyta
Date: 17 January 2006 Applications Scientist at Genomic Solutions Inc. please contact
us at coatedsubstrates@us.schott.com.
Event: Lab Automation 2006 SCHOTT Nexterion® officially launched the Nexterion® MTP 96
Location: Palm Springs Conven- microplate and the Nexterion HiSens reflective slides at Lab
tion Center Palm Springs, Califor- Automation 2006, generating a huge amount of delegate inter-
nia est.
Date: 21 - 25 January 2006
Event: Statusseminar Chiptechno- The event was very well attended with over 200 delegates
logien, mainly from Germany.
Location: Dechema Frankfurt Details of the programme:
Date: 2- 3 Feb 2006 www.events.dechema.de/Programm-page-82728.html
Exhibition and showcase together with OPERON
If you would like a copy of the “Nexterion® HiSens Slides: A
Event: Genomes to Systems
Cure for the Sensitivity Blues – Achieve Higher Signals
Conference 2006
with Less Target” presentation by Dr Oliver Kirchner Applica-
Location: Manchester, UK
tions Scientist at SCHOTT Nexterion please contact us at
Date: 22 - 24 Mar 2006
coatedsubstrates@us.schott.com.
Details of the programme: www.genomestosystems.org
Event: WC on Microarray
Technology 2006
www.worldmicroarraycongress.org/
Location: Vancouver / CA
Date: 24 – 25 Mar 2006
Event: AACR Annual Meeting
2006
www.aacr.org/page5701.aspx
Location: Washington, DC / USA
Date: 01 – 05 Apr 2006
Event: 4th Symposium of The
Wellcome Trust Funded Multi-
Collaborative Microbial Pathogen
Microarray Facility (BµG@S)
www.ugs.sgul.ac.uk/conference
Location: Wellcome Trust Con-
ference Centre, Hinxton, Cam-
bridge UK
Date: 24 - 26 May 2006
Event: Chips to Hits
Location: Boston/USA www.chipstohits.com
Date: 25 -28 September 2006

13. Microarray Solutions page 13
Contact
Fore more information about our complete product range please contact
us or visit our hompage.
www.schott.us.com/nexterion
Microarray Solutions
SCHOTT North America Inc.
5530 Shepherdsville Road
Louisville, KY 40228
USA
Phone: +1- 502-657-4417
Fax: +1- 502-966-4976
E-Mail: coatedsubstrate@us.schott.com
Webshop: www.us.schott.com/nexterion/shop