Flogentec is a French biotech company locates in Valence specializes in labs automated equipment. Since 2008, her first own product Flo 400, is used to speed up and ease wholemount gene identifications into embryos samples (e.g. in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistery). These different biology techniques are commonly used on embryos or thick tissues sections. Unfortunately, excepted for specific species such as zebrafish or drosophilae, the cell pigmentation prevents good visualization inside the samples. To overcome this tissue pigmentation, research labs had to do thin slice of samples and then reconstruct the sample via 3D software.

Since 2014, new sample clarification protocols were performed by several labs. Even if most of them use toxic reagents and are time consumer they allow a complete transparency of the samples. Moreover, some of these protocols retain sample’s proportion and still conserving proteins, nucleic acids and probes used. The major problems of these protocols are the toxic reagents and the duration needed to obtain a total clarification of the samples. For example, the protocol scale uses non toxic reagents such as urea, but needs incubation time of 6 months. On the contrary, the 3 DISCO protocol needs only 1 manipulation day to get results but uses toxic irritating and flammable reagents. We developped a clearing samples automation, this robot allows 3 different clearing protocol in record time (one day for clearing). These protocols were adapted and tested by our team to get precise and reproducible results. If you want more information about these clearing protocol, please watch our clearing page!

To give better quality, faster and more precise results,  several clarification protocols were studied by the society to developed new applications of the automaton. A fast sample clarification protocol can follow samples labeling via in situ hybridization or immunohistochemistery techniques. Flogentec stays advised of biology topicality with the aim to improve the number of protocols accessible by the automaton.