By Gabby Mora

In this ongoing blog series, we’ve been profiling the Luminex team members who support customers of our newest xMAP^® Technology platform, the xMAP INTELLIFLEX^® System. The latest generation includes new features such as a dual reporter functionality to increase the data-generating potential for our users.

Meet Ronald Backer, senior field applications scientist, and Tomasz Zborowski, sales and application specialist for Nordic and Eastern Europe. Lending field support and training scientists to become xMAP super users is what they do best.

Q: What do you do to support the xMAP INTELLIFLEX System?

Ronald: One of my roles is helping customers set up their assays. If they have the xMAP INTELLIFLEX System, we can take their existing assays from previous instruments and transfer them to the xMAP INTELLIFLEX. I also provide instrument training, either in our demonstration lab or in the customer’s lab. I show people how to build an experiment, operate the instrument, and troubleshoot any issues that might come up. I joined Luminex at the same time the xMAP INTELLIFLEX System was launched, and it’s been great to see how happy people are with it. As soon as they see the box and use the software, they really love it.

Tomasz: In the past, I worked as a senior applications scientist, so I made sure that people understood what the xMAP INTELLIFLEX platform is about, what the features are, and how it’s different from our other platforms. I also ran basic training sessions and helped end users set up their assays. Now, I manage accounts in a territory, but I still do some applications work. I often visit new users and collect their feedback about the system.

Q: How does your team help drive improvements for the xMAP INTELLIFLEX System?

Tomasz: Most changes in the system will be in the software rather than the hardware. We test new versions of the software, and we also see how our customers use it and get their feedback. We’ve seen improvements in the software since the launch — that’s the nature of software, it gets better and better over time.

Ronald: I talk to the people who use the instrument to collect their feedback. Some people are used to software from our legacy instruments, and they see that things are working differently with the xMAP INTELLIFLEX System. I send the feedback to the development team, and when there’s a software update, I check to make sure any issues have been resolved.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about the xMAP INTELLIFLEX System?

Ronald: My favorite feature is how the software makes it so easy to set up experiments and navigate through the system. My best tip for customers is to make sure you go through all the maintenance routines. They really make a difference in preventing issues.

Tomasz: One of my favorite features is the software module that allows users to run assays they have been running on our previous xMAP platforms without changing them. There is backwards compatibility between the xMAP INTELLIFLEX and previous systems so legacy instrument users can run their old assays and not experience any difference when they run them on this new platform. They’ll receive the same data output that they would have obtained with the older instrument. From the customer perspective, what I hear about most is the dual reporter feature. It’s giving people the ability to detect more features per analyte on a single microsphere. This is extremely powerful technology.

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