History

The history of industry tends to repeat itself. Realizations and improvements that were part of the evolution of well-established endeavors will eventually be adopted by younger industries. Such is the case with continuous tape automation.

A Precedent in the Electronics Industry

Global Array was formed by the same key players that revolutionized the electronics industry with a continuous plastic tape which is used to package integrated circuits and other electronic components. Prior to the 1980's, these devices were packaged in individual trays or tubes. With the introduction of continuous tape, components were stored and transported in wells on reels of tape, held in place by a continuous cover tape. This greatly simplified and streamlined the automation of printed circuit board manufacturing. The use of continuous tape is currently the electronics industry standard with millions of meters of tape consumed worldwide every year.

A Parallel in Lab Automation

The logistics problems of the electronics industry prior to continuous tape have strong parallels to those faced by scientists performing any type of high throughput microplate based process. The solution for both industries is the same: to replace the inefficiency and cumbersomeness of repeatedly moving discrete objects with the elegance and efficiency of a continuous process.

Pioneers in the Field

Array tape technology was originated by Tom Astel of Tomtec. It was first implemented in the field of genetic testing by Dr. James Weber, previously of the Marshfield Clinic, currently of PreventionGenetics. Dr. Weber's lab at the Marshfield Clinic successfully prototyped and manufactured the first working models of array tape based dispensing, pipetting, sealing, and detection equipment.  Dr. Weber is currently president of his own genetic testing business, PreventionGenetics (www.preventiongenetics.com) which uses array tape for all of its diallelic insertion-deletion polymorphism and SNP genotyping. Originally an exclusively in-house technology, Douglas Scientific has acquired the patents for producing array tape automation equipment, and has made this equipment commercially available.