omation mbers - Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening

11:30 am Wednesday, February 4 Emerging Technologies – Hardware Room A3
Gabriele Gradl
Evotec Technologies
Invalidenstr. 42
Berlin, 10115 Germany
gabriele.gradl@evotec-technologies.com
Merging Highest Resolution and High Speed: Instrumentation for HTS Cell Assays and
Image Activated Cell Sorting
In the post genomic era the growing needs of drug discovery assays must cover novel approaches to cellular
data. Clever strategies for the whole process of target identification, target validation, development of cell lines
for screening and follow-up testing are required. Images have to be acquired fast and from large numbers of
cell samples. Powerful and intelligent algorithms are required for image processing for the different assay types.
Solutions will be presented which remove the limitation terms of generating data from imaging spans and the
laborious work of cloning mammalian cell lines for use in cell assays. They will serve for applications in functional
proteomics, high throughput biology and drug discovery. Strictly confocal imaging allows to exploit cellular
information at the subcellular level and at the same time it provides information on the status of the cell while
incubated with the compound of interest (e. g., integrity, next-neighbour contacts, toxic effects, apoptopic effects).
A highly flexible scripting language for image analysis is used which enables the user to customize the software
towards the specific needs of the respective assay fast assay development. More than 100,000 data points
per day are generated in HTS applications. Several applications are presented. Pure cell clones are generated
with high efficiency using superior micro-fluidic and contact-free manipulation methods. The manual and timeconsuming
steps of growing, identifying, isolating and analysing mammalian cell clones are automated and the
whole procedure is shortened from weeks to days.
11:45 am Wednesday, February 4 Emerging Technologies – Hardware Room A3
Paul Hensley
Microplate Automation
560 Fellowship Road, Suite 211
Mt. Laurel, New Jersey 08054
paul_hensley@microplateautomation.com
TipCharger ® Cleaning Technology: Status and Laboratory Performance of the Technology
Microplate Automation’s cleaning technology uses safe, low temperature atmospheric plasma to break down
organic compounds into atomic units and combines them with oxygen. Data will be presented to illustrate the
effectiveness of the process for removing low molecular weight compounds, larger macromolecules, DNA/RNA
and living organisms from fluid handling systems. The talk will include examples of typical integration issues an
end user faces when retrofitting the TipCharger ® hardware into various automation platforms and engineering
solutions that have been developed to facilitate rapid deployment. There will also be a discussion of uses for the
hardware’s optical spectrophotometer and optional Ramen spectrophotometer.
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