Miniaturized Gene Expression in as Little as 250 nL
The Access laboratory workstation presents exciting new capabilities for walkaway assay assembly and screening of high–throughput gene expression analysis using qPCR. The Access workstation combines the Echo liquid handler, the Roche RealTime ready Cell Lysis Kit and the Roche LightCycler 480 system into a single automated system for gene expression assays with reaction volumes as low as 250 nL. With flexible, wizard–driven software and high quality acoustic liquid transfer, the Access workstation is an ideal platform for both assay development and screening with zero cross contamination.
- Increase throughput with 384– and 1536–well assays at reaction volumes as low as 250 nL
- Work directly from cells with low volume lysis addition and lysate transfer
- Immediately reduce costs with automation and miniaturization in a single platform
- Zero cross contamination with acoustic transfer
Simplifying Miniaturization
The Echo Plate Reformat (EPR) application provides a graphical interface to map transfers of cDNA along with master mix, probes and primers at varying volumes to easily design assays for optimization. The Access workstation’s automation control software instantly transforms EPR transfer protocols into automated routines with barcode verification, sealing, centrifugation and more.
Data gathered from assay optimization for the Echo liquid handler shows the ability to significantly reduce volumes in both 384– and 1536– well assay plates.
Miniaturized 384–Well Assays
|
1000 nL total rxn by hand
|
1000 nL total rxn Echo 555
|
500 nL total rxn Echo 555
|
250 nL total rxn Echo 555
|
|
1000 nL total rxn volume
|
800 nL total rxn volume
|
400 nL total rxn volume
|
300 nL total rxn volume
|
Figure 1. Rapid gene expression analysis directly from cells, at volumes as low as 250 nL.
Automated Workflow for Gene Expression
|
Access Workstation with Echo Liquid Handler |
|
Integration Options
| Liquid Handling | Plate Handling | Plate Storage |
|
All Echo Liquid Handlers: |
PlateLoc Thermal Seale | 20–Plate Random Access Racks |
| All Echo Software Applications: Cherry Pick, Reformat, Dose–Response |
Vspin Centrifuge | 50–Plate Sequential Stacks |
| LXp Bulk Dispenser | Keyence Barcode Reader | |
| GX Nano Dispenser | Vacuum Delidder | |
| Multidrop Combi nL Bulk Dispenser | Teleshake Shaker | |
| XPeel Peeler |
Cost savings are tremendous with miniaturization. Moving qPCR assays to high–density formats can provide a valuable increase in experimental throughput.
Additionally, by reducing the amount of source mRNA consumed, researchers can dramatically increase the number of experiments performed with limited amounts of starting sample. When commonly used volumes of 25 μL are reduced to 250 nL using the Echo liquid handler, the savings on master mix, probes, and primers are more than 95%. The same expenditure can yield twenty times as many high–quality assays or provide savings of tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
