Features

• Place for 14 DWPs or 28 MTPs
• Temperature range from 4 to 50 ºC
• Shaking from 100 to 1200rpm (2 mm amplitude)
• Controlled humidity (95%)

What is this for?

We use the Cytomat to grow our strains and overexpress our enzymes at controlled temperature and humidity.
We also incubate here biocatalysis screening reactions that will be subsequently analysed by spectrophotometry, HPLC or GC.
In some cases, the cytomat can be used too as cold room to store our most labile substrates during the screening.

Features

• Measures kinetics, endpoints and spectra
• UV-vis (220 to 1000 nm)
• Fluorescence intensity (excitation filters: 355-20, 544ex, 485-12, 584ex; emission filters: 460em, 590-10, 520EM, 620-10)
• Luminescence (240 to 740 nm)
• Temperature control ranges from R/T to 45 ºC
• Shaking (linear, orbital, and double-orbital) up to 800 rpm

What is this for?

The BMG can be used either to follow the growth of our strains by measuring the OD at 600 nm or to screen the catalytic activity of the enzymes whether it is by following the reaction kinetically or by recording time points.

Features

• Shaking from 200 to 3000 rpm
• Temperature control ranges from 4 to 70 º
• Holds up to 500 g labware

What is this for?

This on deck thermoshaker can be used to keep our labile substrates or enzyme preparations cold to avoid degradation, or to incubate reactions at a certain temperature. It can be also used to ensure thorough mixing prior to measure, stop or extract a reaction, prepare glycerol stocks, resuspend cell pellets, etc.

Features

• ALP positions to place labware (up to 4 MTP or 2 DWP per position)
• Tip washing station for the 96-multichannel pipette
• Barcode reader
• Span8 washing station
• Trash for the disposal of used labware or empty tip boxes.
• Pod 1: left gripper and 96-multichannel pipette (5-1200 μL)
• Pod 2: right gripper and Span8 multichannel pipette (5-1200 μL). Pipettes from Span8 can adjust the wide distance between each other (Y axis) and each of the pipettes can move independently in height (Z axis)

What is this for?

The Biomek i7 is the core of our robotic platform, where all the liquid handling and most of the labware movement is performed. Thus, on the Biomek i7 deck takes place the colony picking and the culture and reaction preparation. Depending on to and from which position (ALP) the labware must be moved the grippers on Pods 1 and 2 will be used. Similarly, depending on the characteristics of the liquid handling to be performed the 96-MC pipette or the Span8 will be selected. For instance, colony picking or pipetting from eppis/vials is done with the Span8 thanks to its flexibility, while most of the reaction liquid transfers are performed by the 96-MC because is faster.
The 96-well tip washing station is connected to a water or isopropanol 70% reservoir through a peristaltic pump so tips attached to the 96-multichannel pipette can be washed, and therefore reused. On the other hand, the Span8 washing station is used for purging the Span8 syringes.
Barcodes present in the labware can be read by the Fly-By barcode reader, allowing us to track all the labware used throughout the method.
Additionally, we added a trash to dispose of the labware that is no longer necessary on deck.

Features

• Colony detection and selection based on colony color, area, roundness, distance from one another and prioritization of the aforementioned parameters
• Both, SBS-format and round petri dishes can be used

What is this for?

The Visual ALP allows us to visualize, detect, and select the colonies. The colony picking is performed by the Span8 after transferring the coordinates of each selected colony to the Span8. Subsequently, the colonies are transferred to the desired destination labware.

Features

• Barcode reader to scan the labware being transported
• Can move labware up to 500 g

What is this for?

This shuttle transports the labware from the Biomek i7 to a position where the BRT II can pick it to place it in the centrifuge and the other way around.

Features

• Can move labware up to 500 g
• Can handle stacks of plates

What is this for?

The BRT II robotic arm is responsible for taking in and out the labware from the centrifuge. The labware is picked from or placed on the outer position of the Servo Shuttle.

Features

• Maximum centrifugation 4500 rpms
• Temperature ranges from -20 to 40 ºC
• Holds four buckets, each able to fit 4 MTPs or 2 DWPs

What is this for?

All the centrifugation processes are performed in the Rotanta (e.g., culture pelleting, precipitation of denature enzyme after stopping the reaction, etc.).
Additionally, we keep cool our temperature labile substrates, cells and protein preparations there when they are not required on deck.

Features

• Maximum centrifugation 4500 rpms
• Temperature ranges from -20 to 40 ºC
• Holds four buckets, each able to fit 4 MTPs or 2 DWPs

What is this for?

The Biomek software allows the design of automated methods that meet all our specific requirements.
DART 2.0 collects all the information generated during the run of the method and allows us to create customized reports.