Automatic for the people

Over the last decade, many laboratories have chosen liquid handling workstations to automate routine tasks and to increase throughput and reproducibility of their processes. Here, David Bolton, of Hamilton Robotics, talks about new trends in liquid handling automation

Liquid handling systems are often at the centre of laboratory automation solutions and I fully expect this trend to grow in the coming years. In the first stage of the growth of automation, larger laboratories in the pharmaceutical industry and in diagnostics introduced automation solutions to cope with an increasing number of samples. Now we see more and more automation projects starting in a wider range of laboratories, for example: biotech start-ups, academia, government-funded institutions, veterinary and forensic labs. Automated systems will continue to expand into new fields and be used for new applications. Recent studies estimate that the size of the market for automated liquid handling systems will double within five years and we already see a growing number of different applications needing to be automated.

We are working in an industry that is in a permanent state of transition - new technologies are emerging, old ones are disappearing. In addition, in many laboratories the numbers of samples are steadily growing, and at the same time the complexity is increasing. Thus the spectrum of applications that are being automated is becoming wider and wider. Of course this increased complexity comes with increased challenges. The biggest challenge we face is a high level of customisation within a very price-conscious market. Scientists are developing assays specific to their needs. When they decide to automate, they expect a complete solution that is customised to their requirements, whilst at the same time budgets are limited, this is our challenge. A high level of customisation is usually costly, because hardware and software need to be adapted or even developed for a single project.

Let’s not forget there is still a large market for standardised configurations - particularly for applications using commercially available reagent kits. However, it seems that more and more customers require something customised to meet their particular needs and at a competitive price.

With Hamilton’s new STAR line of liquid handling workstations we are aiming to unite these seemingly contrary requirements. We have created a system containing standard modules that can be freely combined to design an instrument to suit particular needs. In addition to the basic STAR workstation, we have added the compact STARlet workstation and the larger STARplus integration platform in 2005. In the same year we added an imaging device for colony picking on the instrument as well as the option of having two arms working in parallel.

When developing new systems is important to set a strong focus on collaboration with customers who work at the forefront of research to automate new applications. Our team of automation specialists work with the customer to create a solution that best fits their needs. Together, we select the right base instrument size, the type of pipetting units and plate handling modules. The selection is based on requirements as regards to throughput, type of samples and lab ware, or degree of automation. There are hundreds of possible combinations.

We wanted to offer our customers the freedom to evolve their automation solution around their application – not vice versa. So modularity is not only important in the initial system design, but also when the system needs to be adapted to new requirements. As needs change, the system cannot only be extended with pipetting and plate transport module add-ons, but even the deck size can be changed: a compact STARlet workstation can be converted on site to a STARplus by means of an extension module doubling deck capacity.

The importance of software is continually growing, assays are becoming more complex and increasing amounts of third-party instruments need to be integrated. On the other hand, customers require an easy-to-use interface. In recent years we have therefore put a lot of resource into software development. The result is software that offers three different complexity levels – so every user will find what is suited to their needs. We have also launched a scheduling software package that maximizes throughput by dynamically allocating free resources. This is particularly useful when we create larger customised solutions involving the integration of various third-party instruments as the scheduling will allow us to make optimum use of these instruments to increase the throughput of the whole system.


Automated liquid handling is just the beginning

We have noticed a definite trend to pipette lower volumes and have responded to that trend with a new nanopipettor module. This eliminates the need for a dedicated nanopipettor – thus saving costs and making complicated transports between different instruments obsolete. In addition we have developed a combination of hardware and software that prevents droplet formation enabling customers to pipette volatile organic solvents, which normally cause droplets. Since our channels do not use any system liquid, we are able to monitor pressure changes in the channels following aspiration and compensate for them in real time. In conjunction with the tip attachment, we can safely pipette highly volatile solvents such as ether, and avoid situations where droplets contaminate the work surface of the instrument.

After the difficult years for biotechnology, I see a new willingness to invest in start-up companies with good ideas. For the laboratory automation industry this translates into a growing number of potential customers for small - to medium-sized automation needs. We will see more and more demanding applications in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic sectors. This will require compact workstations with optimised logistics to handle plates and integrate third-party equipment. The software will have to reflect these requirements by offering flexible yet easy access to these features.

By David Bolton, general manager Hamilton Robotics