In situ Hybridization (HIS)

This method is an indirect detection technique that targets nucleic acids. Its principle is based on the property of 2 complementary nucleic sequences to match each other in a specific and extremely strong way.

Nucleic acids are macromolecules that are structural units of cellular components such as DNA or RNA. By using complementary probes coupled to a marker, it is possible to precisely study the location or expression of a gene within a sample (slide, tissue, embryo).

If this technique is performed manually, it very quickly becomes cumbersome to implement, especially on a three-dimensional object such as a tissue fragment or embryo. The ISH on a wholemount sample requires between 3 and 5 days of difficult handling and time-consuming timing, leading to the risk of error and sample degradation.

Thanks to the Flo400, a biotechnology automaton, in toto samples are subjected to a continuous flow of probes and reagents, which allows a transfer from the probes to the cell nucleus as well as a preservation of the integrity of the sample. The continuous recycling of RNA probes and solvents reduces the analysis and washing time required to obtain results.

As can be seen below, the location of the genes sought, labelled with reagents and dyes, in the embryos and cells studied is observed.

Areas of application: Development biology, plant biology, dermo-cosmetics, oncology, toxicology…

The Flo400 PLC can also perform the techniques:

Research in biology is constantly diversifying and becoming more complex with the emergence of new technologies and the accumulation of knowledge. Thus, different fields of applications and experiments in biology are emerging and new high throughput biology techniques are emerging.

In situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization are tagging methods that provide a clear understanding of the expression of each gene in a spatial and temporal context within a given sample. This allows a characterization of the proteome or genome of the organism studied.

Flogentec thus offers biological automatons that can have several different applications depending on your research field.