Flexible and Precise Reagent Dispensing
High Throughput Screening (HTS)
Assay Development and Design of Experiment (DoE)
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA)
Polymerase Chain-reaction (PCR) Workflows - Real-time and Digital
Biochemical assay development and screening
Cell Culture and Bead-Based Assays
Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) - Library Preparation
TEMPEST® is a non-contact, multipurpose dispenser. Enabling you to dispense as many as 12 different reagents simultaneously by utilizing 96 independently controlled outputs. Dispense any volume, of any reagent, into any well.
Benefits:
Precise - Non-contact microdiaphragm technology uses positive displacement ensuring high accuracy and precision across a broad range of reagent types, including cells and beads.
Low Dead-Volume - Non-recoverable dead volume as low as 48 μL per chip
Flexible - TEMPEST supports all SBS plate types, can easily be integrated with other robotic automation, and has and optional plate stackers and barcode reader. For lower through-put needs, see our MANTIS® liquid handler.
Fast - Dispense 200 nL to 96-well plate in just 3 seconds and 1 μL to 384-well plate in just 5 seconds
Overview of the TEMPEST®
State-of-the-art Dispensing Technology
At the core of the TEMPEST is a microfluidic design that can dispense discrete volumes of liquid with incredible precision across a wide range of sample types and viscosities.
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Unparalleled Ease and Excellence
The TEMPEST Liquid Dispenser utilizes patented microdiaphragm pump technology to allow researchers to maximize workflow efficiency from genomics to high-throughput screening workflows.
EASE OF USE: The TEMPEST software is extremely user-friendly allowing for easy experimental design. The standard gradient and backfill buttons make designing an experiment even easier and faster.
COST SAVINGS:
- Miniaturize assay design and reduce reagent usage
- Save precious reagents through low dead volumes
- Prevent failed experiments with clog-free dispensing technology
- Intuitive software interface and experimental design.
- No Consumables. All components can be easily cleaned and re-used.
SERVICE & SUPPORT: Formulatrix provides a dedicated, worldwide team of sales, product, technical support and service professionals.
“We use this instrument in our high throughput assays and it has resulted in increased accuracy and throughput for the lab. End user adoption has been fantastic and the team would like to purchase more TEMPESTs! Assistance from support personnel and sales is exceptional. This is the best non-contact small volume dispenser on the market.”
Emmy Staples
Life Technologies
When Speed Matters
Each 8-nozzled microfluidic chip dispenses reagents rapidly with minimal waste. Most tasks are completed in fewer than 40 seconds:
Typical Dispense Rates
- 200 nL to 96-well plate = 3 seconds
- 200 nL to 384-well plate = 6 seconds
- 200 nL to 1536-well plate = 11 seconds
- 5 μL to 96-well plate = 4 seconds
- 1 uL to 384-well plate = 5 seconds
- 10 μL to 384-well plate = 9 seconds
- 20 μL to 384-well plate = 13 seconds
Customizable to Meet Your Needs
The TEMPEST can be customized to fit your application and budget. The system offers, plate stackers, bar code scanner, independent vs general controls, as well as, any combination of up to 12 high (1 μL and 5 μL), or low volume (200 nL and 1 μL), microfluidic chips.
“We use the TEMPEST in a fully automated set-up for medium throughput quantitative analysis. The CV's are great and due to the ultra low dead volume we could dramatically reduce reagent costings. Furthermore the very innovative and robust dispensing technology lead to reduced maintenance compared to the dispenser we used before. We are also very happy with the support by Formulatrix personnel. We definitely recommend the Tempest!”
Johannes Fels
Novo Nordisk A/S
Easy-to-use Software
The software provides a straightforward, user-friendly way to design and execute even the most complex dispensing protocols. The control software offers an intuitive visual layout of both the plate design and the hardware setup, and provides tools to create gradient designs and backfills. Microsoft Excel integration allows you to manually edit well volumes for additional control.
“The [TEMPEST] is easy to configure and offers a high degree of versatility for liquid handling tasks. Having the stackers and a time delay option is immensely helpful for biochemical screens and other applications. The software for plate teaching and creating protocols is very simple to work with“
JH
EMD Serono
Application for Optimization
Miniaturize your cDNA synthesis and library preparation reactions, even with limited starting material.
Gentle and even distribution of cells for increased cell viability and consistent cell density.
Simplify the evolution from assay design to drug discovery.
Dispense reagents to maximize assay performance and minimize cost by reducing dead volume and reaction volumes without sacrificing the quality of experimental results
Resources
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.
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.
Automation of Kinetic Assays using the TEMPEST Expanding High Quality Kinetic Characterisation to Stopped Assays
Claire McWhirter from Artios Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge UK, will present insights into their workflows that incorporate complex multi parameter time-course enzymatic assays. We will demonstrate how the unique Smart Batch feature on the Tempest from Formulatrix can automate these processes to increase throughput and save time.
Using Positive Displacement Dispensing to Improve Automated High Throughput Assays
Three years ago, my group evaluated new reagent dispensers to replace our outdated WellMates. We implemented a multi-product dispenser strategy that included the Tempest as the low-volume dispenser. Since integrating the Tempest into our automated high throughput screening systems, several screening campaigns have benefited from their new capabilities. The low dead volumes reduced costs for expensive reagents, the many reagent inputs enabled simultaneous dispensing of multiple reagents saving time and requiring fewer dispensers, and the reproducibility improved the quality of our assay data. We will describe our experiences with integrated Tempest dispensers running a range of high throughput assays.
Miniaturization of 12,000 Dose Response Curves
In this FORMULATRIX® User Group Meeting clip, Dr. Askwith explains how the translational research office at UCL saved 62,000 GBP in a single primary screen by miniaturizing their workflow with the TEMPEST® Liquid Handler.
Computer Specifications
- Microsoft Windows Vista, 7, 8, or 10; 32- or 64- bit
- Dual Core x86 or x64 1.5 GHz processor
- 1 built-in USB port (USB 2.0 recommended, USB 3.0 supported)
- 4 GB RAM
- 1 GB Hard Drive space
- 768 pixels vertical minimum screen resolution (900+ pixels recommended)
Electrical Specifications
- 110-240 V, 50-60 Hz, 130 W typical, 200 W max. Standard or European outlet
Direct-to-lab air and vacuum option
- Pressure: 30-35 psi @ 0.15 cfm = 2.0 bar @ 4.3 lpm
- Vacuum: 22 inHg @ 0.2 cfm= -750 mbar @ 5.7 lpm
Physical Dimensions
- Width: 555 mm (22") (625.7 mm (24.5") with optional waste holder)
- Depth: 309.67 mm (12.2") (364.67 mm (14.4") with optional tube holder)
- Height: 266.56 mm (10.5") (561 mm (22") with plate stackers)
- Weight: ~11.5 kg (~25 lb) (~13.5 kg (~30 lb with plate stackers)
J H
EMD Serono
The instrument is easy to configure and offers a high degree of versatility for liquid handling tasks. Having the stackers and a time delay option is immensely helpful for biochemical screens and other applications. The software for plate teaching and creating protocols is very simple to work with.
Johannes Fels
Novo Nordisk A/S
We use the Tempest in a fully automated set-up for medium throughput quantitative analysis. The cv's are great and due to the ultra low dead volume we could dramaticly reduce reagent costings. Furthermore the very innovative and robust dispensing technology lead to reduced maintenance compared to the dispenser we used before. We are also very happy with the support by Formulatrix personnel. We definitely recommend the Tempest!
Chris Updike
Thermo Fisher Scientific
A fantastic instrument! We use the Tempest in our High Throughput biochemical profiling service. The team now has an automated process for our reagent additions that requires certain concentrations to be added to a plate in a "cherry picking" type of methodology. What was once done by two individuals can now be done by one. The Tempest has worked great
Emmy Staples
Life Technologies
We use this instrument in our high throughput assays and it has resulted in increased accuracy and throughput for the lab. End user adoption has been fantastic and the team would like to purchase more Tempests! Assistance from support personnel and sales is exceptional. This is the best non-contact small volume dispenser on the market.
Anonymous Review
A leading bio-instrumentation company
What we enjoy the most about tempest:
The minimal dead volume required makes it very attractive as you save a lot
The CV for small volume(1 to 2ul) appears much more consistent than peristaltic pump competitor.
The speed at which it is dispensed is much more gentle than a peristaltic pump competitor or a bioraptr. It has a level of value for adherent cells as you are more likely to loose less cells.