Screening


and consistency verification. Moreover, within their automated systems, CyBio offers several sen- sor-based consistency verifications like fill level monitoring, microplate detection sensors and many more (Figure 13).


Figure 14: A GNF Systems 1536 Washer/Dispenser (foreground) finishes dispensing while the robotic plate handler (background) returns to retrieve the plate


GNF Systems’ (www.GNFSystems.com) high throughput screening instruments are designed, developed, built and tested with reliability as the core objective. Beginning at the concept stage, its applications and engineering teams have spent sig- nificant time and effort refining and simplifying processes and design to achieve the maximum screening utility with the least complexity. GNF Systems then designs its hardware and systems with the goal of zero failures. Nothing is left to chance in the designs of its integrated genomics and high throughput screening platforms. For example, GNF Systems robots never simply set a microplate down and hope it hasn’t drifted out of position; its microplates are always positively and actively positioned at all stages of plate handling and transfer including within the GNF Systems robotic microplate gripper. Reliable screening sys- tems enable researchers to concentrate on drug dis- covery and not automation issues. To this end GNF Systems designed and built its own lines of bulk reagent washer/dispensers, automated incu- bators and compound transfer devices. It also inte- grates a range of third party instruments, including readers and acoustic dispensers. However, such instruments are extensively tested and validated to meet GNF Systems’ reliability objectives before being incorporated into a GNF System. Innovations to improve the reliability of every hardware and software component of a GNF sys- tem, in conjunction with learning from a decade of use, has led to the generation of an automated plat- form that excels in assay performance, speed and most importantly, reliability (Figure 14).


Figure 15: HighRes Biosolutions’ NanoCell modular integrated system 68


HighRes Biosolutions’ (www.highresbio.com) service records show that approximately 90% of service tickets are related to the failure of third party integrated devices. Accordingly, HighRes is putting a lot of research and development effort into improving device reliability. It determined that of these service tickets relating to device failures, the vast majority of failures were of storage devices, ie incubators, freezers and carousels. In order to address this, HighRes has developed a complete line of highly-reliable storage devices and other instruments. Another method of improving system reliability is to use redundancy of compo- nents so that a single point of failure cannot ruin


Drug Discovery World Winter 2010/11


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