Cancer Research Technology Selects the Labcyte Access™ Laboratory Workstation

Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the cancer-focused technology development and commercialization arm of Cancer Research UK, has announced the implementation of the Labcyte Access workstation to automate the production of assay-ready plates to be used in a high-throughput cell based screening program.

The Access workstation incorporates the Labcyte Echo® liquid handler—a revolutionary platform using acoustic liquid transfer—in a compact robotic plate handling system to enable walk-away production of low volume assay-ready plates. The Echo liquid handler does not require the use of pipette tips, pin tools, or nozzles, which provides unsurpassed precision and accuracy. By adding a range of device options and accessories, the Access workstation can adapt to the evolving requirements of applications in genomics, drug discovery and more.

The leading driver behind CRT’s purchase of the Access workstation was an overall reduction in compound consumption. Reduced compound consumption and assay volume allows CRT to increase their overall productivity by screening compounds across more assays at a time. In addition, automated acoustic liquid handling significantly improves data with the elimination of artifacts from cross-contamination or user errors.

“We already see the improved data quality for assays that have transitioned to the Access workstation,” says Fabrice Turlais, group leader HTS and compound management. “The improvements are seen in routine compound profiling assays as well as improve reproducibility in our cell-based HTS results. We can easily foresee the reduction in resource required for routine preparation of cell based IC50 assays and a significant improvement in the speed and flexibility of testing different concentrations for dose-response.”

“Echo liquid handlers have already had a significant impact on drug discovery efforts in the pharmaceutical industry,” says Mark Fischer-Colbrie, CEO and president of Labcyte. “Our technology is now poised to bring similar advances across a wide range of genomic and cell-based applications. We are pleased to see CRT immediately realize these benefits with their efforts in cancer research.”