Introducing More Flexibility to Automated Liquid Handling | TS Digest

Scientists working in the life sciences or disease research commonly have to isolate and extract specific components, such as nucleic acids or proteins, from heterogeneous samples. While researchers have derived several popular methods for doing this, such as magnetic bead purification or solid phase extraction, these processes typically remain labor intensive, requiring numerous liquid handling steps. They are also delicate, necessitating high levels of precision, as researchers must take care not to spoil the isolated fraction with external elements or unwanted aspects of the original sample. Finally, because isolation and extraction are usually the first steps within longer workflows, scientists often need to perform them in high volumes or at high throughputs.

Automation, especially in terms of liquid handling, has made scientists’ lives easier and their data more reproducible. However, integrating automated liquid handling into a multitude of different workflows without retaining a considerable amount of manual handling has historically been difficult. To that end, companies have been working to develop more flexible automation solutions. For example, INTEGRA’s ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot is compatible with electronic single, multichannel, and adjustable tip spacing pipettes, giving it the adaptability necessary to streamline a range of workflows, from sample preparation to magnetic bead-based PCR clean-ups and affinity purification. ASSIST PLUS is also instead of further compatible with 96 and 384 channel pipettes, enabling higher throughputs.

Learn more about how the latest robotic pipetting technology can help scientists ensure reproducible sample extraction and purification with increased throughputs. 

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