Berlin, CT USA July 25: AFP Life Sciences today announced the introduction of its COC and COP diffusion bonded manifold technology, a breakthrough advancement designed to improve chemical compatibility, reduce sample carryover, and enhance fluidic reliability in next-generation diagnostic and life sciences instrumentation.
The new manifolds, manufactured from Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) and Cyclic Olefin Polymer (COP) materials, provide significantly improved resistance to aggressive cleaning chemistries commonly used in modern in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) workflows. When combined with advanced diffusion bonding manufacturing processes, these materials enable highly stable microfluidic architectures without the use of adhesives or solvents.
Diagnostic assays are becoming increasingly sensitive, enabling laboratories to detect extremely small quantities of biomarkers, pathogens, and diseased cells. However, this increased sensitivity places greater demands on fluidic systems to minimize contamination and sample carryover.
“Advancements in diagnostic testing are driving the need for more robust and chemically resistant fluidic architectures,” said Ryan Horgan of AFP Life Sciences. “This new COC and COP diffusion bonded manifold technology represents a significant step forward in enabling instrument manufacturers to improve system reliability, assay sensitivity, and overall diagnostic performance.”
Traditional manifold materials such as acrylic, polycarbonate, and Ultem™ can degrade over time when exposed to aggressive cleaning agents such as concentrated bleach solutions and oxidizing reagents. COC and COP materials offer superior chemical resistance, allowing diagnostic systems to deploy stronger cleaning protocols that help reduce carryover contamination between samples.
This capability enables instrument manufacturers to maintain shorter wash cycles while improving contamination control, resulting in higher instrument throughput and improved laboratory productivity.
The innovation was developed through AFP’s internal engineering efforts focused on advancing fluidic architectures for next-generation life sciences instrumentation.
“By combining advanced polymer materials with diffusion bonding techniques, we can create microfluidic manifolds that maintain dimensional stability and fluidic integrity even under aggressive chemical conditions,” said Chris Parzych at AFP Life Sciences. “This technology opens the door to stronger cleaning protocols, lower carryover, and higher assay sensitivity for diagnostic platforms.”
In addition to chemical durability, COC and COP materials provide excellent optical clarity, low autofluorescence, and UV transparency. These properties make them particularly well suited for diagnostic platforms that rely on optical detection or fluorescence-based assays.
AFP’s diffusion bonding process eliminates the need for adhesives or solvent bonding techniques that can introduce extractables, leachables, or contamination risks. The result is a clean, highly stable fluidic structure capable of supporting precision microfluidic architectures used in advanced diagnostic systems.
The technology is designed to support a wide range of life sciences and diagnostic applications, including molecular diagnostics, genomics platforms, clinical chemistry analyzers, and microfluidic diagnostic systems.
With this introduction, AFP Life Sciences continues to expand its portfolio of precision-engineered fluidic components supporting analytical instrumentation, diagnostics, and life sciences research.
The company will showcase this new technology at upcoming industry events and through direct collaboration with diagnostic instrument developers seeking to improve fluidic system performance and reliability.
