BioTek Instruments demonstrated ways to automate microplate-based workflows at the just-completed SLAS [Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening] 2014 Conference and Exhibition held in San Diego. BioTek showcased its microplate-based imaging, detection, liquid handling, and automation solutions at its booth and at several partner booths.
BioTek representatives showed conference attendees the company’s patent-pending Cytation 3 Cell Imaging Multi-Mode Reader, explaining that it combines automated digital fluorescence microscopy and conventional microplate detection in a modular, upgradable platform. They told attendees that the product enables quantitative and phenotypic cellular analyses to be easily and efficiently performed for a variety of assays, particularly the increasingly important live cell assays.
Another solution shown by Bio-Tek was the MultiFlo FX Microplate Dispenser. Company spokespersons told conference attendees that it combines up to four independent reagent dispensers and an optional wash module in a compact unit, and that a color, touch-screen interface offers intuitive protocol creation and implementation, while Parallel Dispense technology combines syringe and peristaltic pump-based dispensing to eliminate reagent carryover. They also drew attention to the BioStack 4 Microplate Stacker, which, they asserted, enables walk-away automation of routine microplate-based processes, including those requiring lidded or unlidded plates. BioStack 4 is compatible with BioTek's imaging, washing, dispensing, and reading instruments, and accommodates 24- to 1536-well microplates.
BioTek also presented ten application posters and two tutorials, “Automated Fluorescence Microscopy in a Microplate Reader” and “The Use of 3D Cell Culture in Oncology Research.”
