F.A.S.T.^TM Liquid Handler

F.A.S.T.^TM
Liquid Handler

96-Channel Positive Displacement Sample Transfer

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Save Time on Low Volume
Transfers

Aspirate and dispense any viscosity liquid with high precision (CV 5% @ 0.1 μL).

Flexible to Fit Your Workflow and Budget

Choose how many tips to use; Compatible with any SBS-format microplate.

Go from Zero to Running Experiments in Minutes

No need for any programming or understanding difficult coding languages.

Precise Nanoliter Sample Transfers

The F.A.S.T. (Flow Axial Seal Tip) is a reliable and easy-to-use liquid transfer system designed to move any viscosity of liquid quickly with its one of kind positive displacement, 96-channel head. With its high accuracy, precision, and reliability for low volume sample transfers, the F.A.S.T. system saves researchers time and reduces reagent costs.

Broad Range of Applications

DNA and RNA Extraction
DNA, RNA, and Protein Purification
PCR Setup and Cleanup
Next Gen. Sequencing (NGS) Library Prep
Serial Dilutions
Cell-based Assays
Antibody Assays
Enzymatic Assays
Compound Management (Picklists from .csv files)

Benefits

Fast: Save time on your liquid transfers with the unique 96-tip head

Flexible: Save on consumables by using your choice of 1, 8, 12, or 96 tips to transfer reagents between 96- and 384-well plates

Versatile: Perform cherry-picking, serial dilutions, and plate copies (broadcast, mother-daughter transfers) with ease

Liquid Class Agnostic: Forget having to program liquid classes ever again; the positive displacement tips mitigate the effects of viscosity on accuracy

Compact: Save on lab space as the system’s small footprint allows for desktop use yet is open for integration with complementary automation

Zero Cross-Contamination: The positive displacement disposable tips ensure the integrity of your samples without any risk of cross-contamination

Smart: Conduct your transfers with confidence as the system features multiple state-of-the-art failsafes including tip position sensors, automatic tip arrangement, and collision detection

Best in Class Performance without the Risk of Contamination

With positive displacement pipette tips, the precision of the F.A.S.T. is not affected by the types of liquid samples that are being transferred. Without the need to account for each liquid class, less time is needed to set up your experiment, while greater accuracy and precision are achieved. The disposable tips ensure the integrity of your samples while preventing any cross-contamination.

Our F.A.S.T. Clients Include

“The F.A.S.T. Liquid Handler is a great device for plate transfer and plate reformatting. We use the F.A.S.T. in our NGS workflow. It ticks a lot of boxes: First and foremost, its liquid handling at low volumes is excellent. Without much tweaking, high accuracy and precision can be obtained for microliter transfers. Second, the F.A.S.T. software and its user interface have a great look and feel: the device is operated from the browser and follows modern computing architecture paradigms, and is easy to use even for our non-expert users. Third, the device is packed with intelligent featured: tip positions are automatically scanned using computer vision, and teaching new plates is a quick and efficient process. I highly recommend the F.A.S.T. for those interested in bulk plate transfer and reformatting. “

Dr. Arne Vandenbroucke

Director, Automation and Systems Engineering

Meet the F.A.S.T. - Liquid Handler

"I have worked with Daniel and his team at FORMULATRIX in testing the F.A.S.T. for qPCR quantification. I really like the instrument in its precision and accuracy with low volumes, which has been very helpful for setting up qPCR SYBR runs."

Gregory Nakashian

Senior Process Development Associate

Save on Reagents with Reaction Miniaturization

The F.A.S.T., similar to MANTIS® Liquid Dispenser and TEMPEST® Liquid Dispenser is a tool designed for low-volume sample and reagent transfer at high accuracy which is crucial when setting up minimized assay reactions.

Conserve your samples and costly reagents
Increase assay sensitivity
Increase throughput
Reduce the cost per sample

Set-up IFCs with Ease

Integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) from Standard BioTools enable the automation of nanoliter-volume genomics applications. This technology facilitates high-complexity analysis for applications that require sensitivity and a broad dynamic range, such as genotyping, gene expression, sample identification, copy number variation, and NGS library preparation.

However, sample and assay buffer loading in IFC plates using conventional liquid handlers is challenging due to the complex format of these plates. Hence, small volumes must be pipetted manually, making the process laborious and compromising reproducibility.

The F.A.S.T. liquid handler offers a solution to this problem. Its software fully supports the IFC's unique plate format for various sample/assay combinations and automates the pipetting operations with high accuracy and precision.

Note: In this video, 1 μL of volume was retained in the tips to demonstrate a high accuracy and high precision dispense. Users have the option of dispensing the full amount aspirated to reduce any dead volume.

Never Have to Arrange Tips Again

The F.A.S.T. liquid handler is equipped with computer vision, allowing it to scan the tip caddy to determine the number and location of tips. Before beginning any workflow, the F.A.S.T. can automatically rearrange the tips according to the protocol's specifications. This eliminates the need to rearrange the tips manually and reduces the risk of contamination. It also enables you to maximize the use of your tips while keeping your shelf free of stray tip racks.

Control Your Experiment Setup with Removable Decks

Interchangeable decks allow researchers to set up their tips, plates, and reagents prior to working on the instrument. The customizable decks reduce the time needed for experiment setup and reduce the chances of sample misplacement. Each removable deck is barcoded so the system knows what item (sample, labware, tips, etc.) is located at each of the positions.

“We recently installed a F.A.S.T. liquid handling system. What amazed us was the ease and simplicity of the product. Additionally, the special tips used by F.A.S.T. has enabled us to get precise assay results with higher accuracy.”

Dr. Kanchan Devkota

Assay Development Scientist, Biophysics

Easy to Use Software for Any Level of User

The software was designed for any user to walk up to the system and begin running experiments. This is truly automation for everyone in the lab:

Go from zero to running experiments in minutes
Very shallow learning curve for new users
No need for programming, writing, or understanding difficult software coding languages
Import .csv files for fast experiment design

Resources

Specifications and Requirements

Personal Computer/ Notebook with minimum specification :

Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit
Processors Speed: Dual core 1 GHz
RAM: 1 GB RAM
Screen Resolution: 1280 x 960 pixels
Browser: Google Chrome Version 69

Electrical Specifications

110-240 V, 50-60 Hz, 130 W typical, 200 W max. Standard or European outlet

Liquid Handling and Labware Features

Volume range: 100 nL to 13 uL (13 uL tips)
Liquid viscosity range: Any type of liquid
Dispense mode: Contact dispensing
Liquid level detection: No
Transfer precision: 5% CV at 0.1 uL
microplate compatibility: 96- and 384- well microplate standard SBS footprint

Operating Requirements

Temperature: 21 °C ± 5 °C (70 °F ± 9 °F)

F.A.S.T. Physical Dimensions

Width: 532 mm
Height: 403 mm
Depth: 596 mm
Weight: 13 kg

FAQs

What is a Positive Displacement pipette tip?

It is like the way syringes work. There is a solid plunger inside the tip that creates aspiration action (vacuum) and dispense action (pressure). This plunger has no compression and expansion effect on the standard (air displacement) pipette tip. It enables the tip to transfer lower volume in a more precise, more accurate, and virtually agnostic way to differentiate liquid classes of various samples. This makes the protocol work much simpler as managing liquid classes is a tricky step.

What are the minimum and maximum volume ranges of the tip?

The minimum volume is 0.1 µL, while the maximum volume is 13 µL for each transfer. If you want to transfer more volume, the system will automatically do it in multiple phases.

What is the Coefficient of Variation (CV) for 100 nL of buffer/water?

⩽5% with 8 channels (STP Mosquito’s style) and ⩽5% with 96 channels (Agilent Bravo’s style).

What is the accuracy for 100 nL of buffer/water?

⩽10% with 8 channels (STP Mosquito style) and ⩽10% with 96 channels (Agilent Bravo style).

What labwares are supported by the F.A.S.T. instrument?

The F.A.S.T. instrument supports SBS footprint with 9 mm pitch (96 wells) and 4.5 mm pitch (384 wells).

What is the maximum height of the labware that can be supported by the F.A.S.T. instrument?

The maximum labware height is 20 mm.

Does the F.A.S.T. instrument support a deep well (2 µL)?

No, it does not support deep well plates.

Does the system support integration?

Yes, it does. F.A.S.T. is using an API that is exposed to any other integration software.

What is the minimum dead volume?

It depends on the geometry of the well (the conical bottom would have the least dead volume) and the liquid class (DMSO can be a good reference).

The default gap between the tip to the bottom of the well is 1 mm, but users can change that to closer (0 mm which is touching the well bottom) in regard to having lower dead volume.

As a guidance:

For a typical 384-well microplate with conical bottom, the dead volume of the well is about 10 µL. For more information, please see this link.
For a typical 96-well microplate with conical bottom, the dead volume of the well is about 30 µL. For more information, please see this link.

Is it possible to transfer the sample liquid from a 96-well plate to a 384-well plate?

Yes, it is. You can transfer liquid from a 96-well plate to a 384-well plate.

Can users create new plate definitions, and how to do it?

Yes, they can. From the Side Menu, select Plate Type Creator and follow the instructions. The F.A.S.T. instrument will automatically measure your plate using a built-in measuring tool in the F.A.S.T. Head. For more information, see Adding Plate Types to the Labware List.

How many labware can be placed on the deck/tray?

The deck can hold 1 tray that consists of 6 tray inserts. Tray insert number 2 is dedicated to the tip caddy or to create a new labware. While tray insert 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are for the microplates.

Does the F.A.S.T. instrument have a method or feature to prevent crashes or collisions that might cause damage to the instrument?

There are two methods to prevent crashes or collisions:

The collision detection feature on the F.A.S.T. Head.
The motion error detection feature on each motor.

Both features would stop any movements when triggered, to prevent any damage to the system.

What will happen in the event of a major crash or if something is stuck in the instrument?

The system will stop any motor movements. Then, users have to perform a recovery action manually by clicking the Recovery Action button on the Side Menu. The system will be ready in a few seconds.

Being a web-based software, what happens if the internet is down? Is there an offline option to run the system?

The F.A.S.T. is not using the internet to be able to work and it uses a local network. As long as the local network is working, the F.A.S.T. instrument is ready to be used.

What accessories are compatible with the F.A.S.T. deck?

The F.A.S.T. deck is compatible with magnetic racks for 96-well and 384-well microplates and plate adaptors for non-skirt SBS microplates. These accessories are made by FORMULATRIX. Email us at info@formulatrix.com for general products or sales inquiries.

Do users need to change the instrument head or install any adapters to be able to use single, 8, 12, or 96 channels mode? Can it change between all pipetting modes on the fly without any user intervention?

Users don't need to change the head and modify the software configuration. It works back and forth between pipetting channel mode without user intervention. Users only need to create and execute a protocol that includes all of the modes. For a fun and attractive live virtual demo, you can request a virtual demo or email us at sales@formulatrix.com.

How much does it cost for a single pipette tip?

It costs 10 cents per pipette tip.

As stated in the previous Q&A, the dead volume of a 96-well plate with conical bottoms is about 30 µL. Can we improve the value that seems too high?

The dead volume definitely can be improved. Microplates with conical well bottoms are the most efficient. So, we put that volume as a conservative volume because the well bottom shape matters the most.

The dead volume of the F.A.S.T. system is super small, almost reaching 0 µL. We are using positive displacement pipette tips that enable us to get all of the samples out of the tips.

Does the F.A.S.T. instrument support non-skirt and semi-skirt microplates?

Yes, it supports the non-skirt and semi-skirt microplates with plate adaptors that have been validated by the F.A.S.T. engineer.

F.A.S.T.^TM Liquid Handler

F.A.S.T.^TM
Liquid Handler