Labcyte has been granted its 40th US patent for its Echo liquid-handling platform, which moves liquids with sound in applications such as siRNA screening, qPCR, genotyping and total assay assembly.
Patent number 7,717,544 describes how, in real time, acoustic energy is optimised to transfer a droplet of any fluid, even those that are unknown.
Labcyte's acoustic droplet ejection technology is said to offer touch-less transfer of a variety of fluids with benefits in life-science applications including drug discovery, genomics, proteomics and diagnostics.
The company said that customers have selected Echo liquid handlers because they provide better precision and accuracy, reduce operating costs and eliminate cross-contamination.
The technology described in the patent allows users to transfer many different fluids with factory-installed calibrations that require no user customisation.
By delivering precisely the amount of acoustic energy required the challenges faced by other liquid-handling platforms such as variable surface tension and viscosity, are eliminated, according to Labcyte.
The built-in intelligence of the Echo platform automatically optimises fluid transfer well by well.
Labcyte uses sound to move liquids.
This eco-friendly, touch-less technology is said to eliminate pipette tips used in conventional liquid handlers.
This can save significant amounts of money in decreased consumables and is said to provide better answers as compounds and other materials adsorb to pipette tips during transfer.
Accuracy is maintained from first drop through last for a variety of fluids, including many considered intractable by other liquid handlers.
Labcyte technologies have applications including compound management, high-throughput screening, total assay assembly, genomics, proteomics, particle manufacturing, encapsulation, imaging mass spectrometry, and live-cell transfer.
