AFP Announces COC and COP Diffusion-Bonded Manifold Technology

Berlin, CT — March 31, 2026 — AFP Life Sciences announces the launch of its COC and COP diffusion-bonded manifold technology, a new fluidic platform designed to improve chemical durability, reduce sample carryover, and enhance fluidic reliability in advanced life sciences instrumentation.

As analytical and life science instruments become increasingly sensitive, laboratories are detecting ever smaller concentrations of biomarkers, pathogens, and molecular targets. This increased sensitivity places greater demands on fluidic systems to prevent contamination and eliminate residual sample carryover between samples.

AFP’s new manifold technology addresses this challenge by combining cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) and cyclic olefin polymer (COP) materials with advanced diffusion bonding manufacturing processes. The result is a highly stable fluidic architecture that eliminates the need for adhesives or solvent bonding while providing superior resistance to aggressive cleaning chemistries.

“Modern life sciences instruments are pushing the limits of assay sensitivity, and that requires fluidic systems capable of tolerating stronger cleaning protocols without degrading,” said Ryan Horgan of AFP Life Sciences. “Our COC and COP diffusion-bonded manifold technology enables instrument manufacturers to deploy more robust wash solutions, significantly reducing carryover while improving overall system reliability.”

Traditional manifold materials such as acrylic, polycarbonate, and Ultem™ can degrade when exposed to oxidizing reagents or concentrated bleach solutions commonly used in laboratory workflows. In contrast, COC and COP materials provide significantly improved chemical resistance, allowing instrument developers to implements stronger cleaning protocols between samples.

By enabling harsher wash solutions without compromising structural integrity, AFP’s diffusion-bonded manifolds
help instrument manufacturers:

• Reduce sample carryover
• Improve assay sensitivity and accuracy
• Shorten wash cycles
• Increase instrument throughput
• Enhance long-term fluidic reliability

The technology was developed through AFP’s internal engineering initiatives focused on advancing next-generation fluidic architectures for analytical and life sciences instrumentation platforms.

“Diffusion bonding allows us to create monolithic fluidic structures with exceptional dimensional stability and fluidic integrity,” said Chris Parzych of AFP Life Sciences. “Combined with chemically resistant polymer materials, this enables instrumentation platforms to operate under more aggressive cleaning conditions while maintaining precision fluid handling.”In addition to chemical durability, COC and COP materials offer excellent optical clarity, low autofluorescence, and UV transparency, making them well suited for instrumentation platforms that rely on optical detection or fluorescence-based assays.

AFP’s diffusion bonding process also eliminates adhesives and solvent bonding techniques that can introduce extractables or leachables into fluidic systems. The result is a clean, stable fluidic structure capable of supporting precision fluidic architectures used in advanced analytical and life sciences workflows.

The new manifold technology is designed to support a wide range of applications including:
• Molecular diagnostics
• Genomics and sequencing platforms
• Clinical chemistry analyzers
• Analytical instrumentation
• Integrated life sciences automation systems

The new diffusion-bonded manifold technology is part of AFP’s broader effort to develop advanced fluidic subsystems that improve performance, reliability, and chemical compatibility across next-generation life sciences instrumentation platforms. By collaborating directly with OEM engineering teams during instrument development, AFP helps instrument manufacturers accelerate platform innovation while simplifying fluidic system architecture.

AFP Life Sciences is focused on developing advanced fluidic subsystem architectures that enable next-generation analytical and life sciences instrumentation platforms. By combining precision manufacturing with proprietary fluidic architecture development, AFP partners with OEM engineering teams to simplify instrument design while improving performance and reliability. This approach positions AFP as a collaborative technology partner supporting the evolving architecture of modern analytical and life sciences instruments.

With this introduction, AFP Life Sciences continues to expand its portfolio of precision-engineered fluidic technologies supporting analytical instrumentation, diagnostics, and life sciences research.

AFP will showcase the new technology through direct collaboration with instrumentation developers and at upcoming industry events.