Using the TEMPEST® Liquid Handler to Improve an Automated High Throughput AlphaLISA® Assay

Using the TEMPEST® liquid handler from Formulatrix, and in collaboration with HighRes Biosolutions® for integration of the instrument with an existing automation platform, researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital were able to rapidly screen a focused compound library screening early cancer drug candidates in an AlphaLISA® assay. The success of this project was facilitated by a number of key TEMPEST® features, namely an in-built capacity to recirculate the AlphaLISA® beads, the ability to dispense multiple reagents from a single dispenser, and extremely low dead volumes.

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Miniaturization of Hit Confirmation Run of 12,000 Concentration Response Curves using the TEMPEST® Liquid Handler

At UCL, the Drug Discovery Group demonstrates that a hit confirmation run of 12,000 concentration response curves can be run with only 1.6 µL total reaction volumes when automated with the TEMPEST liquid handler resulting in a cost reduction of 26,000 GBP in detection reagent when compared to past liquid handling approaches.

Automation and Miniaturization of AlphaLISA® and AlphaPlex® Assays Using Microfluidic Dispensing Technologies

The Mantis and Tempest are ideally suited for dispensing AlphaLISA® beads and reagents to maximize assay performance and minimize assay cost by reducing dead volume and enabling a simple and robust means to reduce reaction volumes without sacrificing the quality of experimental results.

Case Study: GeneMark

The GeneMark lab is a relatively high throughput parentage lab based in Hamilton, New Zealand. The facility predominantly services the domestic bovine dairy industry and provides parentage determination from a single animal to a single parent all the way up to the entire crop of calves matched to both parents. Herd sizes average just over 500 animals and can be as large as several thousand.

High-Throughput Cellular Assays

Efficient high-throughput screening is a complex system of samples, chemistry, automation, and data analysis. Traditional high-throughput systems utilize 6- to 1536-well plates to support the large number of experimental conditions required to produce reliable and statistically significant studies.

Here we present a unique system for the automated processing of both adherent and suspension cells by using Curiox Biosystems' DropArray™ Plates in combination with non-contact, low-volume automated liquid dispensing using the FORMULATRIX® TEMPEST® Liquid Handler

High-Throughput Reagent Dispensing with the FORMULATRIX® TEMPEST® Liquid Handler

In support of its SelectScreen® Services business, global biotech company Life Technologies researched and tested automated liquid handlers to streamline the addition of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to Z´-LYTE® 384 well assay plates. Rigorous testing proved that the FORMULATRIX TEMPES met all of Life Technologies’s strict reliability, accuracy and precision requirements. Today, the Tempest is a routine part of Life Technologies’s workflow.

Automation of Single Cell Plating Utilizing the TEMPEST® Liquid Handler

Cell line generation has historically been considered a long and tedious, labor and materials intensive process. Monoclonality and robust clonal growth with high viability are desirable in cell line development, especially for generating monoclonal antibodies or protein therapeutics. In the pharmaceutical industry, scalability is also a necessity for bioprocess manufacturing. Decreasing the time and labor intensive method in the beginning of the process of plating single cells to insure monoclonality can be achieved together with the FORMULATRIX TEMPEST and Celigo imaging cytometer.

Optimization of Automated AlphaLISA Assays for Biomarker Measurements in Large-Scale PK/PD Studies

Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) studies play a critical role in the drug discovery and develop ment process.The studies typically require characterization of drug and biomarker concentrations from large numbers of samples with high sensitivity and broad analytical range.The AlphaLISA® technology (PerkinElmer,Inc.,Waltham,MA) is a homogeneous no-wash alternative to conventional solid-phase ELISA assays that can be applied to biomarker detection in plasma and serum samples.

Automation of Cell Viability Assays Utilizing Microfluidic Dispensing Technology

Cellular viability assays are widely used to investigate the potency or toxicity of biologically active molecules. One of the most widespread techniques to measure cellular viability is a luminescent CellTiter-Glo® (CTG) Assay which is a homogeneous method based on quantitation of the ATP present, an indicator of metabolically active cells. The "add-mix-measure" format results in generation of a luminescent signal proportional to the amount of ATP and, thus, proportional to the number of metabolically active cells present in culture. It is designed for use with multiwell formats, making it ideal for automated high-throughput screening, cell proliferation and cytotoxicity assays. However, in our hands, CTG has limitations for use on automatic platforms, due to the fact that the reliability of dispense degrades over extended run times, primarily as a result of liquid dispensers becoming clogged.

Kinase Assay Development Using the TEMPEST® Liquid Handler- EMD Serono

Introducing the FORMULATRIX® TEMPEST® Liquid Handler in our workflow has allowed us to improve the current technique not only in terms of efficiency but also accuracy and precision. Unique to the TEMPEST is its new microfluidic technology that relies on independent channel control over all the 96 nozzles, thereby allowing one to dispense any volume from any input into any well. We evaluated this diversity for a wide range of assays from those requiring factorial dispensing, like assay design and modality of inhibition studies, to applications like assay miniaturization that use fixed volume dispensing.