Product Profile


TTP Labtech strengthens liquid handling portfolio, unifying drug discovery


T


he first dragonfly® liquid handling platform, dragonfly crystal, was designed to help increase the out-


put of high-resolution structures by saving protein crystallographer’s


time and


improving repeatability when optimising screen conditions. TTP Labtech realised that similar bottlenecks in early stage drug discovery could also be overcome by drag- onfly technology. Through industry collab- oration, they sought a deep understanding of scientist’s needs and worked in parallel to develop the second-generation dragonfly discovery that was launched in 2018. Since launch, this novel positive displace-


ment, non-contact, dispense technology has become industry proven, helping scientists tackle the complexities of biochemical and cellular assay development. Its use has improved assay robustness, saved costs and smoothed the transition of optimised assays into high throughput screening (HTS). What dragonfly discovery users find


truly empowering is that each of its 10 channels operates fully independently of the others to rapidly dispense any volume of any liquid class into any well at any time. If this concept is difficult to compre- hend, imagine the dispense capability of 10 single-channel hand pipettes, each set to dispense different volumes of different reagents into different wells, with some reagent additions requiring a time delay. Just like hand pipettes, the convenience of disposable tips enables scientists to explore


The manual set-up of such complex


assays is not practical. The potential for human error is enormous and the amount of time required is unrealistic. This robust automated dispenser, however, does not get distracted by colleagues, or lost mid-dis- pense or forget about its timer when per- forming timed additions. Running out of (or wasting) reagent through human mis- calculation is also a thing of the past since designer works out the required volumes of each component. Its users also benefit from the exception-


unlimited numbers of variables per plate (10/run, in multiple runs) without cross-con- tamination. Counterintuitively, exploring more variables does not increase costs. By using dragonfly discovery to miniaturise assays, the same amount of reagent goes fur- ther. By translating signal improvements from assay optimisation into reduced enzyme requirements, significant savings can be made across HTS campaigns. dragonfly discovery’s full potential is


unlocked by designer software which intu- itively enables the planning, preparation and set-up of incomprehensibly complicat- ed assays. In a few steps, complex multi- reagent combinations and gradients (linear, n- fold or ad-hoc) can be p r o g r a m m e d . Additionally, it is possi- ble to convert and import files from statis- tical


experimental


design packages (eg JMP) into designer to utilise the power of Design of Experiments (DoE).


Drug Discovery World Winter 2018/19


al accuracy and reliability of positive dis- placement dispensing, especially when working with differing liquid classes (volatile to viscous), or dispensing cell types (as gently as if by hand). Thanks to its incredibly large volume range (nL to mL), users can match microplate type (96, 384, or 1,536-well) to HTS requirements, significantly easing the transfer of assays between disciplines. Over the last year, dragonfly discovery


has proven to be game changing for opti- mising assay, media or reaction conditions. Building on this, TTP Labtech’s collabora- tions continue to address yet more bottle- necks. Their two latest developments (launched at SLAS 2019) unify use of drag- onfly discovery technology from assay development through assay validation into HTS screening. A simple API for the assay development


model, enables a stacker to be used for walk-away validation screens. Additionally, a seamless transition of assays from devel- opment into screening is now possible with dragonfly discovery HTS. The HTS version provides full robotic control interface API for integration. It combines the reliability of positive displacement non-contact dispens- ing with auto-feed reservoirs for bulk reagent addition. No fuss disposable tips mean there is nothing to wash, maintain, check or calibrate prior to a run for the ulti- mate in convenience. For information visit www.ttplabtech.com.


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