4titude

4titude® specialises in the design, manufacture and marketing of consumables and bench top instrumentation for the life sciences industry.

The 4titude product range is divided into 4 areas,
- Plate and tubes for PCR (polymer chain reaction) with product to fit all instrumentation
- Plates for cell based assays
- Plate Sealing
- Sample Storage

All consumables are manufactured in cleanroom facilities with ISO9001 certification and are certified free of DNase, RNase and Human Genomic DNA.

PCR Consumables

During 2009 the FrameStar product range of hard-shell PCR plates was expanded and thus 4titude now have a plate/s for all manufacturers platforms, including the Roche 480 Lightcycler and ABI 0.1mL Fastblock instrumentation.

The FrameStar range of plates consisting of a polycarbonate frame with polypropylene wells, greatly improves the mechanical stability of the PCR plate and eliminating warping, shrinkage and thermal distortions resulting from the PCR process. 4titude’s use of novel injection moulding technology, allows the wall thickness to be reduced without compromising on tube integrity, thereby enabling 4titude to offer a superior product for fast and small reactions volumes. All FrameStar Plates are available with clear or white wells.

Complimenting the FrameStar products, are one piece polypropylene non-skirted and skirted 96-well PCR plates, 0.2mL individual tubes and strips of eight with a choice of dome or “optically clear” flat caps.

Bar-coded plates

All skirted plates from 4titude are available with linear barcodes for identification and traceability.
The labels:
• are highly scratch resistant
• can withstand -80°C storage
• can be printed with human readable text
• available in code 39, 128 or interleaved 2 from 5 formats

Individual Tubes
Strips of 8
96-well PCR Plate, non-skirted
96-well PCR Plate, skirted
FrameStar 96, non-skirted
FrameStar 96, non-skirted, low profile
FrameStar 96, skirted
FrameStar 96, semi-skirted
FrameStar FastPlate 96
FrameStar 96/480, semi-skirted
FrameStar 384
FrameStar 384/480

Instrument Compatibility Chart

Cell Based and ELISA Screening

The 4titude Vision Plate has been designed for high content screening assays. The high quality optical base plate assures the necessary accuracy and consistency required for automated high throughput systems, providing optimal signal to noise ratio.

4titude’s Vision Plates are assembled using a novel, patented ‘state of the art’ laser welding technology. This technology removes the possibility of auto fluorescence (halo effect) and cytotoxic effects that can be associated with other assembly technologies.

4titude uses a novel low pressure plasma process for treating the plastic surface, producing a more consistent and stable surface for cell adhesion than the more traditional corona treatment. The plasma process was designed to improve cell adhesion under difficult conditions (e.g. low serum conditions) and benefits cells with low adhesion properties such as transfected cells, over expressing proteins. The Vision Plate range is now available with poly D-Lysine and Collagen 1 coatings.

Benefits
• 175 microns polystyrene bottom
• Optimum signal to noise ratios
• Surface flatness within 100 microns
• Improved cell adherence
• Conforms to SBS tolerances

For more information on the Vision Plate, click here. 

Vision Plate 384
Vision Plate 96
Vision Plate 24

Plate Sealing

4titude have an extensive range quality adhesive and heat seals for PCR, qPCR and sample storage.

The recently released 4s2 semi-automated heat sealer is a low cost solution to improved and more secure plate sealing. Plates are manually loaded into the sealer, where a mechanical ram lifts the plates up to the heating element, there by ensuring optimal pressure is applied for a uniform seal. Time and temperature settings are adjustable allowing optimization of sealing for different seal and plate combinations.

Adhesive Seals

Microplate Seal, (storage)
Pierceable Adhesive Seal (storage)
Adhesive PCR Seal
Adhesive PCR Foil
QPCR Seal
Q-Stick Seal for QPCR 

Heat Seals

Thermal Bond
Black Seal
Clear Seal
Peel Seal
Pierce Seal 

4s2 Heat Sealer 

Sample Storage

4titude’s PlateStable has been designed for the safe storage of laboratory samples in inert (low Oxygen and low moisture) environments for sensitive samples.

The system consists of a control unit and a flexible number of storage containers for the storage of SBS standard laboratory consumables. The PlateStable enclosures are connected to the control unit. Following a short flushing cycle the atmosphere inside the sealed container will be replaced by dry inert gas (usually Argon or Nitrogen) to a pre-set level of purity.

Once the flush the cycle is completed, the enclosures are disconnected from the control module and transferred to cold or ambient storage. Sealed containers can be left for up to 12 months with no change in storage conditions. The enclosed atmosphere can be monitored during storage by simply reconnecting the enclosure to the control module.

PlateStable