Agilent Automation has released a technical note that describes an automated method for isolation of total RNA in a 96-well format.
The method is carried out using Agilent's Bravo automated liquid handling platform and the Absolutely RNA96 Microprep kit from Strategene.
The Strategene Absolutely RNA Microprep kit allows high-throughput isolation of total RNA from small samples of cultured cells.
This simple method eliminates toxic phenol-chloroform extractions and time-consuming ethanol precipitations by selectively binding RNA from cell lysate on 96-well silica fibre matrix plates.
However, the RNA isolation protocol requires extensive manual processing, including repetitive pipetting, washing, vacuum filtration and centrifugation steps.
Using Agilent's VWorks automation control software, a script was written for the Bravo platform to aspirate, dispense, mix and transfer sample from a source 96-well tissue culture plate to the binding and collection plates of the Absolutely RNA 96 kit; as well as to automate sample wash steps using a vacuum filtration unit accessory on the Bravo platform.
The Bravo platform is shown to provide a reliable, efficient solution for automatically handling the multiple steps in total RNA isolation using the Absolutely RNA 96 Microprep kit.
