The Automation Partnership will exhibit its Coda nanolitre assay plate production system at the IQPC Compound Management and Integrity 2009 Conference in London.
The Coda system, developed in partnership with a major compound management group, integrates up to three Labcyte Echo 555 liquid handlers into a compound management workflow to enable production of up to 300 384-well plates in 4.5 hours (at 5nl sample volume).
This modular system can be configured to suit any pharmaceutical company's sample management programmes and would typically include a conventional liquid handler for dispensing buffer or diluents, a centrifuge for ensuring liquids are at the bottom of the plate and The Automation Partnership's Echo robotic feeding arm designed to work reliably with the Echo's loading stages.
Coda can also have labelling and plate-sealing modules integrated, as well as using Platesafes or plate hotels to ensure full compound tracking and secure plate storage.
When coupled with relevant modules of The Automation Partnership's Concerto sample management software, Coda can generate a comprehensive range of output plate formats.
Each test can have its own format defined, without any restriction on where samples or controls are placed, thus eliminating positional bias from assay results.
Concerto modules can create intermediate dilution plates via existing equipment, as well as collate small orders.
If the same compound families are being tested by different chemists, Concerto will automatically design the most efficient method of producing these plates.
Concerto features an open architecture so users can integrate existing or new sample management equipment and be up and running again without the need for a major re-investment in management software.
'The Echo system is frequently used outside a sample management facility and means the same compounds are often stored and dispensed by different groups,' said Andrew Proudfoot, Coda product manager at The Automation Partnership.
'This can result in organisational inefficiency and unnecessary use of expensive compounds and reagents and has led to an increasing need to incorporate the Echo system into high-throughput compound management programmes.
'Coda has now successfully passed its 1,500 site acceptance tests in a major compound management facility,' he added.
