美国Fluidigm   
美国Fluidigm成立于1999年, Fluidigm公司开发、生产、销售其独有的集成流体通路（IFC）系统，能够显著提高生命科学研究的生产率。借助Fluidigm的集成流体通路，能够对极微量的试验对象同时进行成千上万次复杂的生化测定。这种生物学集成通路是通过在单一的微型设备上对液体处理部件进行微型化和集成处理而实现的。Fluidigm公司的IFC系统由仪器、软件和一次性使用的集成流体通路装置组成，与传统的实验室系统相比，该系统扩大了通量，降低了成本，提高了灵敏度。Fluidigm公司的产品已获得美国食品药品管理局（FDA）的批准，可用于诊断、检定，且仅限于研究用途。
Fluidigm公司的新款BioMark 96.96动态阵列使用纳升数量级的金标准TaqMan探针，能够同时进行9216个实时的PCR实验。这套新一代集成流体通路装置能够帮助生命科学研究人员进一步达到新的成本水平，使后勤更加灵活和高效，并从微量的试样中取得更完整的图谱。

使用10uL的反应量，将Fluidigm公司的新款96.96动态阵列与业界标准的384微孔板系统比较，可以发现，96.96动态阵列能够显著提高生产率和效率。
——通量提高24倍：一个96.96动态阵列能够提供9216个并行的数据点，相当于24块384微孔板片的处理能力。

——master mix混合液的用量减少192倍：9216次反应所需的混合液分别为：240微升和46080微升。
——准备过程的复杂度降低96倍：每进行9216次反应，96.96动态阵列只需要192步移液操作，而为了准备相同数量的微孔板片试验，需要完成18432步移液操作。

利用人类基因组序列以及有关癌症表达基因的大量数据，Ludwig癌症研究院正在进行多项研究，试图对癌症中差异表达的基因进行特征分析。Ludwig研究院Sandro J. de Souza博士说，“为了分析整个人类‘表面基因组’（surfaceome）的特征，我们进行了一次大规模的分析。我们将基因表达数据整合到‘表面基因组’知识库中，发现了可能在恶性胶质瘤（glioblastoma）和结肠瘤中差异表达的待确定基因，接下来，我们想要用大规模的qPCR方法来验证部分待确定基因。在我们的qPCR研究阶段，Fluidigm公司的96.96动态阵列将发挥至关重要的作用。”


Fluidigm develops and distributes systems based on integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs). Our systems can play a vital role in the advancement of today’s life science and allied fields, including molecular diagnostics, personalized medicine, and wildlife conservation. With IFCs, scientists are able, at last, to conceive of and implement large, complex studies that further our knowledge of biology.

The evolution of the life science may be compared to that of the electronics industry, in which the integrated circuit replaced transistors and wiring for routing electricity, sparking exponential increases in speed and complexity of computing. Like electronic circuits, IFCs are fabricated using a photo lithographic process, in this case, to pattern molds for producing silicone wafers that have microscopic channels, pumps, valves, and other components needed for the manipulation of nano-volume scale fluids. These components can be densely arrayed for parallel operations, without loss of reliability.
 

Every day, we strive to enhance our customers’ success through product innovation that continually drives down their cost per experiment. Our systems, including IFCs, instrumentation, and software, allow scientists to make incomparable leaps in productivity. Our product lines include:

The BioMark™ System for Genetic Analysis,
The Fluidigm EP1 System for Genetic Analysis, and
The TOPAZ® system for Protein Crystallization.
The Company's patent portfolio consists of over 80 issued US patents and over 240 pending patents internationally, including those licensed from Caltech, Harvard, and University of Alabama.

Company Highlights
1999 Founding of Fluidigm Corporation (originally Mycometrix) to commercialize IFC technology developed in the laboratory of biophysicist Stephen Quake, PhD.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2003 Launch of the TOPAZ® System for Protein Crystallization, including IFCs that assemble 768 crystallization conditions in parallel and instrumentation and software that automate the digital imaging and analysis of experiments.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2004 Development of IP around a new class of IFCs referred to as dynamic arrays and of prototypes yielding as many as 9,216 parallel data points.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2005 Opening of a 15,000 square-foot IFC fabrication facility in Singapore.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2006 Launch of the BioMark™ Real-Time PCR System, a multi-application hardware/software platform based on BioMark™ dynamic arrays. Introduction of BioMark™ digital arrays, heralded as a practical solution for ultra-sensitive detection by digital PCR.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007 Launch of high-throughput genotyping on the BioMark system, a breakthrough for the study of genetic variation within large populations.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2008 Launch of the Fluidigm® EP1 System for genetic analysis.