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Active Motif

One instrument to handle any sample-prep task.

PIXUL disrupts cells and extracts protein from up to 96 samples in a single run — cells, tissue, bacteria, yeast, FFPE, even the tough ones — with consistent results well to well, across your proteomics workflows. Installs over a call. Maintained by your team. Easy-to-obtain, non-proprietary standard plates.

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96samples
per run
All samples in one run · hands-off — load the plate and walk away
5–30min
Walk-away run time
Start to finish — about 5 min for cells, 15 for tough tissue
1plate
Across sample types
Cells, tissue, bacteria, yeast, FFPE — different protocols, same run

Handle multiple projects. One plate.

Four proteomics workflow paths — validated across cells, tissue, FFPE, and biofluids. One instrument absorbs the range.

Discovery + Quantitative

DIA-MS, TMT, and label-free at cohort scale

Cohort-scale discovery and quantitative work means many samples prepped the same way. Prep that runs one at a time slows the cohort — and the variability shows up as batch effects.

  • 96 samples disrupted and extracted in 5–30 minutes
  • LC-MS/MS-validated depth — same plate, same parameter framework
  • No operator-day drift across the cohort

PTM enrichment

Phospho, ubiquitin, acetyl — clean lysate before enrichment

PTM enrichment (IMAC, TiO₂, antibody capture) needs reduced viscosity and sheared DNA in the lysate. That clean-up step is its own rate-limiting box.

  • Protein extraction and chromatin shearing on the same plate
  • Viscosity-reduced lysates ready for IMAC, TiO₂, or antibody capture
  • No separate shearing step

FFPE proteomics

Archival blocks, xylene-free — straight into sample prep

FFPE proteomics is technically demanding. Xylene-based deparaffinization is toxic and slow, and yield from archival blocks varies by block age and fixation.

  • Skips xylene entirely with a trapping-cartridge cleanup
  • Direct SDS solubilization disrupts the block and releases protein
  • Runs on the same plate as the rest of your batch

Antibody-based + validation

ELISA, Western blot, IP-Western — same lysate, both readouts

Most facilities run both LC-MS/MS proteomics AND antibody-based validation. Two separate sample-prep workflows, two instruments, two sets of standards to maintain.

The lysate PIXUL produces feeds any method that uses protein lysates — one workflow, two readouts:

  • LC-MS/MS
  • ELISA
  • Electrochemiluminescent immunoassays
  • Western blot
  • IP-Western validation

You're asked to serve more projects, more sample types, more questions — on a budget. The instrument that earns its bench space handles the whole range, is easy to maintain in-house, and doesn't lock you into costly consumables.

Handle what your lab needs. Maintain it yourself. Trust it on the hard ones.

1 plate
different protocols, different samples, one run
  • Column-level programming runs different protocols in different columns — cells here, yeast there, tough tissue in the next
  • New sample types absorbed without buying another instrument
  • One plate covers the range your facility is asked to run
All-in-one
chiller + touchscreen built in, maintained by your team
  • Chiller and touchscreen built in — no separate computer or fluid tank
  • Installs over a call
  • Your team handles the simple maintenance about twice a year
Tough tissue
cell wall, slime, heart — disrupted
  • Adjustable acoustic energy and run time for the samples that usually fail
  • Cell-wall organisms and tough tissue (heart, muscle) disrupted
  • Complete, clean protein release

From the people who run it every day.

Before the PIXUL, I'd spend half a day standing in the sonicator room — one sample at a time on the probe.
It's just the simplest equipment we have. We never had to optimize — we just change the run time.
Bacterial cells, muscle, heart, brain — anything from simple to tough tissue. Same instrument, same plate.
The fluid and filter changes — I do those myself. Very easy.
"We don't run separate plates for different applications anymore. Tissue in some columns, cells in others, bacteria in others — all on the same plate, all done in 30 minutes." — Proteomics core facility

Questions proteomics teams ask before they evaluate.

How does PIXUL compare to what I'm using now?

Most labs come to PIXUL from one of three tools:

  • A small-batch water-bath ultrasonicator — built for roughly a dozen samples; PIXUL scales the same gentle, contact-free approach to a full 96-well plate.
  • A probe sonicator — one sample at a time, an operator standing over it, results that drift between people; PIXUL processes a full plate hands-off, with consistent energy well to well.
  • Focused-ultrasonication systems — mostly single- or 8-sample units, so PIXUL is substantially faster at volume: no degassing wait (ready in about five minutes), a simple touchscreen instead of complex software, and no lengthy cleaning of a circulating system between runs.
Will it handle my hardest samples?

Usually yes — including the material operators expect to fail.

  • Acoustic energy and run time are adjustable, so cell-wall organisms, slime, and tough tissue like heart and muscle disrupt and release protein cleanly.
  • Core users who worried PIXUL "wouldn't be harsh enough" for cell-wall samples found it worked.
  • For the rare specialty case, we'll tell you honestly where PIXUL is and isn't the right fit during the demo.
How does PIXUL compare to bead-beating proteomics workflows?

Bead-beating workflows have strong adoption and tight mass spec integration when bundled with a platform — but there are trade-offs:

  • Bead-beating isn't sonication — it can't shear chromatin, gDNA, or cfDNA, so it limits multi-application scope.
  • Bundled workflows lock you into proprietary chemistry consumables and a single downstream mass spec.
  • PIXUL is platform-agnostic across all major mass spec systems and handles workflows beyond proteomics.
What workflows is PIXUL validated for?

Validated across the proteomics sample-prep range:

  • Workflows: trapping-cartridge FFPE, bead-based sample-prep chemistries, immobilized-digestion, standard LC-MS/MS, and rapid sample-prep methods
  • Platforms: all major mass spec — high-resolution accurate-mass, ion-mobility, and quadrupole-TOF
  • Sample types: cells, tissue, FFPE, bacteria, yeast, biofluids
  • Secondary applications: high-throughput ELISA and Western blot prep
  • Plates: easy-to-obtain, non-proprietary standard plates
What does the daily user say?

Operators describe PIXUL as the simplest equipment they own.

  • No optimization required beyond adjusting run time per sample type (about 5 minutes for cells, 15 for tough tissue)
  • Default settings handle the rest
  • Fluid and filter changes take minutes and are done in-lab by the team
  • Across bacterial cells, muscle, heart, and brain, well-to-well variability is consistently low
  • It answers the real question behind any capital approval — will my technician actually use it?

Across proteomics deployments, the daily user's answer is yes.

What about non-mass-spec proteomics workflows?

Most PIXUL proteomics deployments feed LC-MS/MS — but the lysate suits any method that uses protein lysates:

  • LC-MS/MS
  • ELISAs
  • Electrochemiluminescent immunoassays
  • Western blot
  • IP-Western validation

A meaningful share of proteomics-deployed PIXULs serve both LC-MS/MS and antibody-based workflows in the same facility.

Same instrument. Different workflow.

NGS library prep

FFPE, metagenomics, fragmentomics, chromatin profiling. Bias-free mechanical shearing on standard plates. Tight CV across all 96 wells.

See genomics workflows

Matched-sample multi-omics

Across chromatin, DNA, RNA, and protein. Different programs per column, same plate, same run.

See multi-omics workflows

Skip the brochure tour.
Talk to a PIXUL specialist.

A 30-minute working call. Walk through your samples and your facility's mix, hear what PIXUL changes — and what it doesn't.

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