The Discovery XT system brings unprecedented automation, reproducibility, and productivity to immunohistochemistry (IHC), in situ hybridization (ISH), fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), and microarray* slide processing. The Discovery XT system is the next-generation research system from Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. It is the most advanced system for automating slide processing and applications involved in target identification, characterization, and validation, as well as drug candidate pre-clinical safety assessment. By minimizing some of the bottlenecks in drug discovery, the Discovery XT system enhances productivity and delivers reproducibility and reliability. In addition, optimized protocols and reagents maximize the efficiency of slide processing and provide excellent sensitivity,a high signal-to-noise ratio, specificity, and reproducibility.

The Technology
Discovery^® XT Q/A

• Processing DNA microarrays* to identify genes of interest in target diseases (gene
   expression profiling studies).
• Validating genes by staining tissue and/or tissue arrays to detect mRNA expression levels
   (ISH).
• Identifying drug targets by staining tissue and tissue arrays to study protein expression
   encoded by disease related genes (IHC).

Ventana's Discovery XT system features total walk-away automation from the moment the slides and reagents are loaded to the end of the staining run, when the processed slides are removed. It offers unprecedented flexibility in gene and protein expression analysis. By automating and optimizing time consuming processes such as baking, deparaffinization, hybridization, and washing. Under controlled conditions, it minimizes technique-dependent errors, saves time and labor, and increases reproducibility and productivity.

The system can accommodate a variety of substrates, cell, or tissue preparations. The system can process up to 30 slides per module per run under independent conditions, allowing effective optimization of experimental conditions for faster research. The system gives the researcher maximum control over experimental variables, as well as pretreatment options, including:

• Automated, solvent-free deparaffinization of paraffin-embedded material
• Pretreatment conditions and options, such as duration and temperature, as well as cell   conditioning of tissue sample.
• Hybridization conditions, such as time and temperature of denaturation and hybridization    steps.
• Post-hybridization conditions, such as time, temperature, and salt concentration of stringency    washes.
• Conditions (time and temperature) for linking antibody.
• Choice of detection chemistries, both for IHC and ISH applications.

• Process IHC, ISH, FISH, and FITC tests independently or simultaneously.
• Develop protocols with flexible options to perform multiple assays (up to 30 slides per run).
• Automate any or all slide preparation steps-baking, deparaffinization, cell conditioning and    staining.

• Minimize experiment repeats with the automation of all slide processing steps.
• Enhance slide-to-slide and run-to-run reproducibility with ready–to-use “automation optimized”    reagents.

• Automate all slide processing steps: from baking through staining.
• Optimize assays quickly with increased flexibility to run matrix experiments with up to 30    independent conditions.
• Process up to 60 IHC slides in under 8 hours or up to 480 slides with additional modules.
• Increase throughput with rapid turnaround time.
• Enhance productivity with unattended overnight slide handling.
• Reduce experimental repeats with standardized slide processing.