Biomek FX Liquid Handling Workstation - Beckman Coulter, http://www.beckmancoulter.com
The Biomek FX laboratory workstation has 18-position deck capacity with dual arm system that accommodates any SBS standard assay plate and pipette tip boxes. The left pod is equipped with pipettor with interchangable 96- or 384-multichannel disposable tip pipetting heads which allow precise, rapid plate-to-plate transfers. An integrated gripper is built into the multi-channel pod for moving labware and for automated tip loading. A Span-8 configuration on the right arm allows individual well access and is used for cherry picking or individual tube access-based operations.
Matrix
PlateMate 2X3 integrated with CataLyst-5 Express - ThermoScientific,
http://www.thermo.com
The PlateMate is a 6-position liquid handling workstation for automated 96- or 384-well pipetting. The system utilizes Air Displacement Heads which cover a wide range of volumes. The Platemate is integrated with a Thermo Scientific CataLyst-5 robotic arm, with three microplate storage units, and a re-grip station. A Servo Gripper enables the CataLyst Express to support a wide variety of microplate types. The re-grip station enables the CataLyst Express to rotate microplates to either landscape or portrait orientation.
The Wellmate is more advanced version of multidrop based on peristaltic pump technology with the following improvements: disposable, pre-sterilized tubing cartridges and rapid dispensing in a wide volume range (1 µl to 2,000 µl). The Matrix WellMate accommodates microplates with six to 384-wells, or deep- or shallow-well plates to storage tubes. HTS lab houses 2 WellMates, one of which is integrated with CataLyst Express robotic arm. The second WellMate is placed inside a biosafety cabinet in the cell-culture facility for sterile dispensing.
An integrated workstation that performs pre-analytical functions including pre-sorting, centrifugation, volume check and clot detection, decapping, secondary tube labeling, aliquoting and destination sorting into analyzer racks. The deck is equipped with heated stage and shakers. The 8-span is useful for accessing individual tubes and for cherry-picking compounds from individual wells.
The MultiDrop dispenser is an automatic programmable, eight-channel microplate dispenser. It has a peristaltic pump for rapid and continuous dispensing of liquids into 96 well- and 384-well plate formats. This dispenser reduces the expense for disposable tips used in HTS.
ELx405 Cell washers - BioTek, http://www.biotek.com
The ELx405 is a microplate washer for 96- and 384-well microplates with both dispense and aspirate manifolds for precise overfill washing and overflow protection in microplates. The system can be used to wash all microplate-based assays, including ELISA, fluorescence, chemiluminescence, RIA, DNA probles and cellular assays. The ELx406 is equipped with an ultrasonic cleaner that provides extra cleaning power by using ultrasonic pulses in a waterbath to remoce residue on the manifold tubes.
The Precision 2000 96/384-well automated pipetting system supports most liquid handling protocols for 96- and 384-well plates, including reagent addition, serial dilutions and sample transfers.
The Aquamax has precise non-contact dispensing and washing capability and can be configured to handle 96-, 384-, or 1536-well microplates.
BD Pathway 855 High-Content Bioimager - http://www.bdbiosciences.com/bioimaging/cell_biology/pathway/855
The BD Pathway™ 855 system offers the ultimate in flexibility for high-content imaging of live and fixed cells, enabling versatile solution for live cell and endpoint fluorescence imaging. BD Pathway 855 system can rapidly record high-resolution fluorescence images from multiwell plates and slides. The system comes with powerful imaging software to perform a broad range of fluorescence-based kinetic and endpoint biological assays, developed for both routine and advanced assays. The BD Pathway™ software provides a suite of integrated tools to accomplish the tasks of high-content cellular analysis from image acquisition and analysis to data analysis and visualization. The software is designed to accommodate the needs of many users, from users needing push-button control of pre-defined applications to advanced assay developers.
The system utilizes label-free screening method which has wide applications in the area of drug discovery, such as detecting small molecules that bind to target proteins. The SPR based system features fully automated operation with a maximum throughput of 3840 compounds within 24h.
The KU HTS Screening facility has several plate readers to read 96-well or 384-well assay plates: two SpectraMax Plus384, Gemini XS plate reader, Wallac Victor 2, Tecan Safire and a Perkin Elmer EnVision. All six readers support high-throughput operations, either through stackers or via robotic integration.
The EnVision multilabel microplate is suitable for measurement of glow luminescence, fluorescence intensity, fluorescence polarization, time-resolved fluorescence and absorbance. En Vision supports several kinds of assays: alphascreen assays, reporter gene assays, receptor ligand binding assays, immunoassays, genotyping assays, cellular assays and enzyme assays, amongst others. All types of microplates (upto 1536 wells), petridishes, slides, filters are suited to measurement in En Vision. Plates can be loaded manually or using the 50-plate stacker.
A multifunctional monochromator-based microplate detector that provides high flexibility and sensitivity in wavelength selection for absorbance and fluorescence measurements: Fluorescence Intensity (top and bottom), Time Resolved Fluorescence (TRF), Fluorescence Polarization (FP) and Luminescence. The instrument measures any standard microplate ranging from 6 to 1536 well formats using any of the techniques.
This filter-based complete platform is used for quantitation of all leading light-emitting or light-absorbing technologies: fluorescence intensity (340-850 nm, dual ratio measurements, top and bottom fluorescence), time-resolved fluorescence (TRF), fluorescence polarization (FP, 405-850 nm), luminescence (glow luminescence, flash luminescence, or dual luminescence), UV/visible light absorbence (340-700 nm).
The SpectraMax Plus384 microplate spectrophotometer provides measurements of samples in microplates or in a cuvette. The monochrmator-based reader provides UV/VIS readings at single or multiple wavelengths in either end-point or kinetic mode.
The SpectraMax 340PC 384 is a monochromator-based spectrophotometer that has wavelength range 340-850 nm. In speed read mode, it reads a 96-well microplate in 9 sec and a 384-well microplate in 29 sec. The versatile and user-friendly Softmax software allows either end-point determination or kinetic monitoring.
The Gemini XS is a monochromator-based spectrofluorometer that can perform a variety of fluorescent applications. The dual monochromators, along with the mirror optics and the cut-off filters minimize background interference and increase sensitivity of measurements over a wide range of excitation and emission wavelengths.
GloMax™ system is a multi-mode reader for reading assays in 96-well format. The instrument is loaded with all 3 modules: luminescence, absorbance and fluorescence and has on-line fluid addition for flash detection.
The xCELLigence System monitors cellular events in real time without the incorporation of labels. The System measures electrical impedance across interdigitated micro-electrodes integrated on the bottom of tissue culture E-Plates. The impedance measurement provides quantitative information about the biological status of the cells, including cell number, viability, and morphology. A wide range of cell-based assays for both high throughput screening and research laboratory environments can be performed on the xCELLigence System.
The MVS caliberation system is Dual-dye-based photometric system that enables precise measurement of liquid volumes and measurement of dilution step accuracy. The system is used to assess performance of any liquid handling device ranging from handheld multichannel pipettor or any robotic automated liquid handler incorporating 1-384 channels. The liquid handler to be caliberated is used to dispense MVS reagents into a microtiter plate. The dispensed volumes are measured via a proprietory dual-dye, dual wavelength ratiometric method.
The SI2400 is a medium throughput imaging detection system, capable of multiplexing in all spot formats and reads 96- and 384-well plates. It offers excellent sensitivity and dynamic range, while providing speed suitable for medium throughput screening, as well as for multiplexing biomarker and cytokine assays.
This automated heat sealer for polypropylene and polystyrene plates is ideal for medium to high throughput applications. The instrument can seal a wide range of plates and accommodate different height plates (standard and deep-well). The rate of sealing is approximately six plates per minute and 5,000 plates can be sealed automatically without intervention.
The L-8 instrument is based on computer controlled, focused acoustic process designed for high-throughput fluidization, mixing, solvation, and dissolution in microplate formats and ensures that soluble compounds are in solution in HTS assays.
The XPeel removes seals from all types of plates at a rate of 250 seals removed per hour. The system can be readily integrated with external robotics.
The iEMS Incubator/Shaker is a stand-alone microplate incubator and orbital shaker, ideal for assays requiring temperatures up to 40°C and shaking speeds of upto1400 rpm. The iEMS Incubator/shaker consists of three incubation modules and a keyboard. Each module has three incubation slots for microplates. The protocols for temperature and shaking speed can be the set individually for each module.
The miniaturized microliter-scaled flow-cytometer has a patented flow cell that does not require sheath fluid and delivers several key benefits over traditional flow cytometers. The system uses 96-well plate formats to determine a variety of assays: cell counting and viability, cell growth, cell toxicity, apoptosis, and antigen-detection assays.
The FPLC, with dual pumps for gradient generation, UV and conductivity monitors, fraction collector and computer controller, provides the capability for protein purification often required for biochemical targets.
Nikon Ti-inverted Microscope - Nikon, http://www.nikoninstruments.com/ti
The microscope contains a halogen bulb for brightfield applications and has on EXFO X-Cite 120PC with Fiber-mounted metal halide light source for fluorescence applications. The microscope has 5 fluorescence filter cubes (Cyan fluorescent protein, Green fluorescent protein, Yellow fluorescent protein, M Cherry, FITC and DAPI). The microscope is equipped with a Photometrics CoolSNAPHQ2 camera (1392 X 1040 array with14-bit digitization for 16,000 grey levels capability. The Universal Imaging Metamorph software has capabilities for 2d no neighbor and nearest neighbor deconvolution, color merge images, image processing filters and functions.
The cell culture laboratory consists of a quarantine room and a production room, both of which are biosafety level II facilities. Cells received at the facility are grown in quarantine laboratory that houses 2 Labconco Logic Class II Type A2 biosafety cabinets and 2 CO2 water-jacketed incubators. The cell lines that test negative for Mycoplasma or other contaminants are transferred to the main cell culture facility and grown for assay development and optimization. The main cell culture room has four CO2 incubators and three Labconco Purifier Logic Class II Type A2 biosafety and an Olympus CKX41 Inverted microscope.
