Best flexible dispense

Integrated Devices (Centrifuge, Washer, etc)
1

Hi Everyone,

I am looking into integrating a new liquid handler, which can handle flexible dilution series. Ideally, it should offer:

  • low footprint
  • automatic import of dispense lists
  • low (<1ul) and high volume (10-100ul) dispense at the same time
  • free well-to-well dispense

I wouldn’t mind aspirating function either, but it needs to be very gentle for semi-adherent cells.

Any recommendations/experiences? Maybe on the SPT Labtech dispensers?

Thank you for your feedback!

Best regards, Cornelia

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2

How much do you want to spend?

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3

The Firefly from SPT Labtech would be a good option to consider. It’s a combination of a liquid handler and a liquid dispenser.

4

Let’s look at the options first and the business case afterwards :wink:

5

Yes, this is the instrument I have in mind as well. Do you have one and are you happy with it? Have you tried washing cells with it?

6

What else have you looked at?

For washing cells, are you moving away from plate dispensers?

A former company I worked at used to use the Dragonfly day to day for creating master mixes. At the new site, they removed it from the workflow and moved on to the Mantis for reasons that are unclear to me.

I honestly did not really follow that development but I’m happy to reach out and ask. Issues may have been non-functional and more around service/consumables.

7

Thanks, we have an EL406 for cell wash, which seems to work. It would just be a bonus if we could run the whole wash/dispense cycle on the same instrument.

We also have a Tempest (Mantis’ big brother) integrated, which we use for creating other dose response curves. It is great for small volumes but takes a lot of time for bigger ones.

8

I think the Firefly is your best shot at a system that covers your requirements plus they other integratable items for the firefly.

Just a wild card but have you heard of Curiox for centrifuge-free cell washing?

They have a couple of interesting technologies (Laminar Wash & C-Free). With C-Free you can wash your cells on your liquid handler platform of preference. They may have a protocol for the Firefly for all I know.

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9

We don’t have one, but I’ve heard great feedback on it. For washing cells I think it depends on what cell type you have, adherent or suspension and how sensitive they are - it’s worth reaching out to SPT Labtech to enquire. Their instruments are mostly used in cell work so I assume the FireFly can deal with cells.

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10

Thanks again for your feedback! We will meet with SPT Labtech next week :wink:

11

Haven’t heard of Curiox yet, thanks for the hint! I will contact them for a demo.

12

Did you check out the I.DOT from DISPENDIX?

It goes down to the nl range and dispenses 100 µl in roughly 20 s.

Dose response curves is one of its core applications: Dose Response Curves | DISPENDIX

13

Cornelia,

Just a couple of questions. Plate format? 8-channel? Fixed or disposable tips? How about CV%? Viscosity? What type of robot are you using? How about scheduling software… what are you using?

Please let me know.

Rich

14

Thanks @Bammes, your colleague reached out to me :wink:
I had a demo a couple of years ago, but would be happy to refresh my memory.

15

Ideally I would prefer tip-free technologies and liquid class independent transfer.
We work with 96well plates in a GBG platform.