Non-Contact
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96 or 384 Fixed Transfer
25nl–1000nl
Drug Discovery
Drug discovery can be approached in a variety of ways. Screening a large number of compounds using defined biochemical assays in an ultrahigh-throughput format usually is usually an early part of the experimental process. However, the effect of a drug on an organism is complex and involves interactions at multiple levels that cannot be predicted using biochemical assays.
In order to understand this complexity, an increased use of cell-based screening assays as more biologically relevant surrogates to predict the response of the organism. In addition, at some point in the drug discovery process, predicting cellular toxicity is important. Eukaryotic cell culture is accepted as the model system of choice to get a first approximation of toxicity.
Library Management
Compound Libraries continue to be an important tool for many downstream assays including evaluation as potential drugs. Hundreds and thousands of compounds are typically screened for any given evaluation. Automating this setup process and even integrating it into a greater workflow is paramount to maintaining an active pipeline. An automated non-contact dispense system can quickly and easily reformat these compounds while minimizing contamination risk. Additionally, since the number of compounds evaluated is extremely high reusable tips reduce the overall cost of each assay.
The Hummingbird™ is a fast, precise, non-contact dispensing system capable of transferring or reformatting samples in a high throughput environment. Non-contact dispensing minimizes the risk of contamination while the reusable tips reduce the cost of operation. This multi-functional bench top instrument can also be integrated with automated plate handling systems for seamless workflow.
1–17 Dispensers
20nl–250μl
Assay Assembly
Some of the many reasons to automate assay assembly are to standardize processes, reduce technician time and reduce assay volume. Reducing assay volumes is a popular trend as it reduces costs and can be accomplished by using low volume, high density plates with 384 or 1536 well formats. Automation using fast – non contact ‘on the fly’ dispensing delivers reagents accurately and precisely into the wells in the volume range of 20nl and greater with CV’s of less than 10%. Multiple reagents can be dispensed while controlling the order and amount, additionally fluidic inertia ensures efficient mixing of the reagents. Virtually anything can be dispensed, examples include; alcohol, PEG, cells, SDS, protein solutions and more. Common applications include sequencing, ELISAs, SPA bead and cytotoxicity assays, Genotyping, and other PCR based Assays.
Genomic Solutions® offers its patented synQUAD™ Technology in a wide range of instrument configurations to meet your automated assay assembly requirements. Please see the synQUAD™ selection Guide to find the platform that fits your format and throughput needs.
Protein Crystallization
(Sitting Drop / Hanging Batch / Micro Batch)
The protein crystallization process involves long wait periods of weeks or months during which the actual protein crystals are formed under controlled conditions. It is highly desirable to test more than one condition at a time to get to results faster and to use only small amounts of proteins. Robotic nanoliter dispensing instrumentation can be used to rapidly set up large numbers of protein crystallization conditions.
The Honeybee instruments are fast, precise and accurate non-contact "on-the-fly" dispensing systems delivering in the volume range of 20nl and greater with CV’s of less than 10% using proprietary Cartesian synQUAD™ Technology. SynQUAD™ Technology also enables micro-batch studies since the synQUAD™ channels have enough inertia to dispense through oil. In addition to the synQUAD™ protein channels, the 961 and 963 systems also have 96 contact dispense channels for quickly depositing crystallization solution in both the wells and the shelves for vapor diffusion experiments. Please visit the Honeybee selection chart for an overview of each instrument.
Automated Assay Assembly
Compound Libraries continue to be an important tool for many downstream assays including evaluation as potential drugs. Hundreds and thousands of compounds are typically screened for any given evaluation. Automating this setup process and even integrating it into a greater workflow is paramount to maintaining an active pipeline. An automated non-contact dispense system can quickly and easily reformat these compounds while minimizing contamination risk. Additionally, since the number of compounds evaluated is extremely high reusable tips reduce the overall cost of each assay.
The Hummingbird™ is a fast, precise, non-contact dispensing system capable of transferring or reformatting samples in a high throughput environment. Non-contact dispensing minimizes the risk of contamination while the reusable tips reduce the cost of operation. This multi-functional bench top instrument can also be integrated with automated plate handling systems for seamless workflow.
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