Tecan rallies its expertise and equipment for the Chinese earthquake efforts

Tecan, a global leader in laboratory automation and detection, has donated a Freedom EVO^® 150 to help process forensic samples for human identification in the aftermath of the May 12 earthquake in the Sichuan Province. The earthquake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, caused major devastation in the Province, with more than 87,000 people reported killed or missing in latest figures (from the World Health Organization). Many of the victims are yet to be identified and, though a daunting task, the work required to identify the remains is an important priority for the Chinese Government to help families and the entire community as a whole to come to terms with their loss.

Large quantities of samples have been collected and the donation, including a Freedom EVO 150, specially configured for human identification, plus consumables such as pipette tips and magnetic beads, will be an enormous boost to processing them. The system was installed in the Center of Forensic Science Service, Public Security Department of Sichuan Province in July, and will be supported by Eastwin, Tecan’s distributor in China.

Tony Mamone, Senior Market Manager for Forensics at Tecan, said: “We welcome the opportunity to use our expertise to help in this humanitarian crisis. It is critical for families to identify their loved ones to bring them some degree of closure, and we are thankful that our instruments can be of use to China’s relief efforts.”

The Freedom EVO liquid handling workstation is particularly well-suited to forensic applications such as human identification because of its reliability, accuracy and capacity for very high throughputs. It is also very easy to use, with several processes already covered by validated, ‘ready-to-run’ protocols. Tecan instruments support all major chemistries and are scalable to grow with any laboratory’s changing throughput requirements. Specially configured Freedom EVO workstations, similar to that supplied to China, are installed in many forensic laboratories around the world, including those of the South African Police Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and several local and national forensic departments. The instruments were also used in human identification of victims from the World Trade Center.