Press Release

REVOLUTIONARY AUTOMATED LIPOSOME MANUFACTURING SYSTEM SAVES RESEARCH TIME AND COSTS

Inverness, IL – The innovative new LiposomeAutoMaker Automated Liposome Manufacturing System from Hashimoto Electronic Industry Co., Ltd. reduces liposome research time and costs. The only system of its kind, the LiposomeAutoMaker uses one-touch operation to produce any functional liposome type automatically and repeatedly.

Preparing liposomes using the LiposomeAutoMaker requires relatively fewer steps and less time than manual methods. Prior to engaging the automated processing cycle, an operator simply dissolves the phospholipids in chloroform, loads the system with the pertinent solutions and records the amounts and conditions for preparation of the liposome in question. The operator then presses a button on the touch-screen panel and the LiposomeAutoMaker begins preparing the liposome. An entire program, or a part of it, can be repeated with accuracy. Total liposome preparation time with LiposomeAutoMaker, including cleaning and drying, is approximately 2 hours per run.

Combining vortex mixer processing, evaporation functions and continuous ultrasonic homogenizers, the LiposomeAutoMaker automatically prepares Multilamellar Vesicles (MLV) and Small Unilamellar Vesicles (SUV), as well as Large Unilamellar Vesicles (LUV) and Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUV). The system also prepares liposome vaccines, including those encapsulating soluble and lipid-soluble antigens, and reconstituted liposomes, such as proteoliposome and virosome, plus a range of other types of liposomes.

Some LiposomeAutoMaker features include varied automated preparation programs (registration of 10 sets of preparation conditions each for up to 12 kinds) and bioreactor programs (registration of up to 15 user-created programs), an ultrasonic homogenizer, six syringe pump units with stepping motors (stroke length up to 60mm at 24,000 resolution), a vortex mixer (up to 2,500 rpm), an air and nitrogen gas pressure meter, automated cleaning and drying and more. The LiposomeAutoMaker allows for 1 to 10 continuous runs each with 2 to 20 mL of liposomes.

Because the LiposomeAutoMaker can prepare large amounts of GUV, it can be used for developing artificial cells and next generation types of liposome encapsulating viruses or micelles. In addition, the prepared GUV can encapsulate at very high amounts of low molecular drugs and siRNA, as well as intact proteins such as antibody, enzyme, etc., which can also be used for DDS by reducing their size.

An optional automated extruder can be attached to the LiposomeAutoMaker to prepare uniform LUV at 100 nm size for use in Drug Delivery Systems (DDS). This results in the easy preparation and development of liposomal pharmaceuticals for cancer therapy.

Established in Japan in 1985, Hashimoto Electronic Industry Co., Ltd. works in cooperation with Liposome Engineering Laboratory, Inc. (Mie University, Japan) to research and develop medical equipment.