Exiqon Services invests in new pipetting platform from Hamilton

Focusing on high throughput and high quality liquid handling at a small footprint

In 2013 the Service department at Exiqon AS decided to expand the automated workflow and invest in new automation to further increase the capacity and optimize the performance in the workflow. Exiqon Services is a sample-to-answer-solution provider and their routine workflow includes isolation of RNA, qPCR profiling and extensive data analysis. The key drivers for the investment in new automation were high quality liquid handling, small footprint and a high throughput.

Following an extensive evaluation process Hamilton Robotics was awarded the contract to supply a MicroLab STARlet robotic system to the service department. The system was installed and implemented in the routine workflow beginning of 2014.

qPCR analysis system

The system is designed for a production environment requiring high throughput without compromising the process safety and quality of the liquid handling.  The Microlab STARlet robot is equipped with 8x1000ul pipetting channels, and a deck configuration with 15 cooled positions for plates plus additional positions for disposable tips. In the high throughput mode the system is multidispensing down to 10 ul using a 300 ul tip with low variation over the 96 or 384 well plates.

Maria Teilum, Ph. D Manager Exiqon Service, Comments:

“To further increase capacity and performance of the liquid handling processes involved in qPCR analysis, we decided to add a Hamilton liquid handling robot to the workflow. It is the goal to increase the daily production of qPCR plate up to 60 plates per day, while keeping performance at high quality and running costs low”

About Exiqon

Exiqon operates in two business areas, Life Sciences and Diagnostics:

Exiqon Life Sciences is a leading supplier of products for microRNA research. Researchers around the world in academia, the biotechnology industry and the pharmaceutical industry are using our research products to make groundbreaking discoveries about the correlation between gene activity and the development of cancer and other diseases.

Exiqon Services is part of Exiqon Life Sciences and focuses on collaborations with pharmaceutical companies that apply microRNA as biological markers in clinical research and clinical validation to reduce the time and cost of clinical trials, reduce adverse drug reactions and optimize therapies for patients’ individual needs.