Automation – Multimedia

The purification of DNA and RNA from clinical samples requires rapid and reliable processing of large quantities of samples. Automated purification of nucleic acids, proteins and cells with Thermo Scientific KingFisher Flex is a reproducible and high quality method, which produces excellent material for further analyses.

Dried Blood Spot (DBS) analysis is a very promising alternative to conventional whole blood and plasma analysis used in drug discovery and development or later in therapeutic drug monitoring with well documented advantages.

Biobanking is becoming a central element in the study of patient genetic data and clinical application of genetic research. Until recently, collections of DNA samples have tended to be fairly small and localized with varied sample containers that were unsuitable for an increasing throughput and automated system use.

Crystallising proteins, required for structure determination by X-ray diffraction, is a difficult and labour-intensive task. The mosquito liquid handler (TTP LabTech) is ideally suited to automating the complex set-ups required for microseeding due to its precide handling of extremely low volumes of even viscous solutions, and its ability to perform multiple aspirations and dispenses with each pipette.

The number of life science investigators utilizing crystallography in their research increases every year. Synchrotrons are an invaluable resource for structural work but not everyone has unlimited access to a beamline. In-house diffraction systems complement synchrotron access and can provide increased productivity in the home lab. In recent years, the performance and versatility of in-house systems has greatly improved. The enhanced performance allows data collection on demanding projects such

The SRB assay was implemented on a TECAN Genesis workstation by optimizing cell numbers and liquid handling parameters. Anticancer drugs vinblastine, doxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil were used for standardizing the assay with a DU-145 cell line. To screen the antiproliferative activities of a series of stilbene derivatives, altogether 121 different stilbene structures, a plate layout was designed on 96-well format.

Using primary cells for RNAi based applications such as target identification or – validation, requires a highly efficient transfection technology in combination with a reliable and robust automation system. To accomplish these requirements we integrated the amaxa 96-well Shuttle® in a Tecan Freedom EVO® cell transfection workstation which is based on Tecan’s Freedom EVO® liquid handling platform and include all the necessary components and features for unattended cell transfection.

Successful RNAi experiments and large-scale siRNA screens require efficient delivery of highly functional and specific nucleic acids including siRNA oligonucleotides, shRNA vectors, or micro RNAs into an appropriate cell system. Cell types relevant for immunological research, such as primary T cells and several suspension cell lines, are poorly accessible using reagent-based transfection approaches.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. have announced the availability of a new technical poster demonstrating the importance of configurability and flexibility in laboratory information management systems (LIMS) design for life sciences and high throughput screening applications.

mosquito® is a positive displacement liquid handling system capable of pipetting solutions with a high degree of accuracy (to within 5%) and precision (CVs of <10%) in the nanolitre range. Here, we demonstrate mosquito’s ability to dispense accurately low volumes of organic solvents of low surface tension and to re-dissolve compounds which have been previously dried in storage wells.