From storage to processing at four times the speed

TTP LabTech says it has taken another step towards providing faster screening with the delivery and installation of the first Companion 1-2-4 remote arrayer at a European site.

Access to the self-contained Compound microtube stores is now possible at four times the speed, it says.

Companion 1-2-4 connects up to four Compound modules - each of which can store up to 100,000 compounds - to provide fast, remote delivery or storage of individual microtubes from an easily expandable sample library.

All connected Compound modules can be accessed at the same time, so processing speed actually improves as storage modules are added.

With two modules connected, Companion 1-2-4 is able to process over 6500 cherry-picked microtubes in an eight hour day.

This rises to over 10,000 microtubes per day when four modules are connected.

Companion 1-2-4 is designed to fit easily into any busy, automated screening lab and can be located up to 25m from the library store - in another room or even on a different floor - saving space in the lab.

With its small footprint (0.5x0.7m) it can be sited next to a robot, a reformatter or unobtrusively on a conventional laboratory bench.

The high spec COM interface integrates with fully automated screening systems without special conditions or bespoke automation equipment.

The easy-to-use scheduling software means that samples can be stored and retrieved overnight or on demand, further increasing daily throughput.

"The need for integrated, remote access to the compound library has become paramount in today's HTS and uHTS environment" explained Jas Sanghera, TTP LabTech's commercial director.

"Linking Companion 1-2-4 to Compound gives the user a huge choice of equipment with which the Compound system can integrate.

"The user is no longer constrained to one supplier for automating their laboratory, nor to the physical constraints of their storage system or laboratory shape."