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Mendy VanDeusen, Beckman Coulter, Inc.The customer presented the Project Management team with the need to automate multiple steps of a protein binding assay. E. coli bacterial cells were plated in 96-well plate format using an automated colony picker. The BiomekŪ FX Laboratory Automation Workstation was used to feed the bacterial cells from a refillable reservoir on the deck of the Biomek FX, add reagent to induce recombinant protein production in the E. coli cells and then transfer the secreted protein from the media to test plates containing tumor cells. Protein binding to the tumor cells is monitored by addition of the fluorescently-tagged reagent that specifically binds to the secreted protein. Binding to the tumor cells of interest is measured by a Fluorescent plate reader offline. The Biomek FX Assay Workstation shown in the figure below, was designed with a dual-bridge Biomek FX with Multichannel heads on both pods. A Cytomat* Microplate Hotel was linked by the Cytomat ALP to the deck of the Biomek FX to provide additional capacity for automated process. The deck contained two tip loaders, a wash station, a refillable reservoir and an orbital shaker. Pipetting from both Multi-Multi pods on the Biomek FX was optimized for simultaneous use. The left pod was used for transport via the built-in gripper and some liquid transfers, while the right pod was used for addition of reagents.
Mendy worked with the team at Beckman Coulter in Indianapolis to develop a new pipetting technique for this system to enable pipette tips to aspirate from the side of the well very slowly so as to not disturb the cells on the bottom of the well. The customer is very happy with the design and assay performance. * All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For comments or questions about T3 Update, please contact David Daniels, Ph.D., editor.
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