Date/Time: 15th of May 2018, 13:00-14:00

Venue: CBCB Baddiley-Clark Building, large meeting room level 2

Labcyte’s Echo acoustic liquid handling technology revolutionizes scientific research by using sound energy to provide highly accurate, fully automated, non-contact dispensing of fluids. By using unique Dynamic Fluid Analysis™ technology the Echo system determines fluid composition, fluid height, and the power needed to eject a precise volume of fluid into the destination well. Analysis happens in milliseconds, enabling precise and accurate transfer of nanoliter (nL) droplets into an inverted microplate. Larger volume transfers are achieved by transferring several hundred droplets per second. Transfers can be made from any well to any well, allowing for miniaturization and automation of complex assays to dramatically reduce reagent costs and sample usage.

Traditional DNA assembly methods require reactions of 10–20 microliters per well. The Echo Liquid Handler can reduce reaction volumes by up to 100-fold, drastically cutting reagent costs. With the ability to reliably transfer volumes as low as 25 nanoliters, Echo systems can extend the useful life of a primer library and eliminate the need to dilute high-concentration primers, saving on storage and primer costs and preventing dilution errors. Market-leading synthetic biology companies and academic synthetic biology centres use Echo Liquid Handlers to automate gene synthesis with higher throughput and lower cost than they could with tip-based liquid handlers.

The Echo system can also rapidly pool oligos or DNA fragments from library plates. Since there is no contact with the fluid and no time spent changing or washing tips, the Echo system can transfer each oligo or fragment from any well of a microplate in less than a second. This can save up to 15 hours in a high-throughput setting. Furthermore, since the Echo system has the ability to transfer nanoliter volumes, high concentration libraries do not have to be diluted prior to transfer, resulting in simultaneous normalization while pooling. This enables equal distribution of reads to every sample and very even representation of all samples, and significantly reduces the time to normalize and pool libraries whilst improving the reliability of the entire library preparation process. Find out more at https://www.labcyte.com/