October 26, 2006 - Laboratory Automation Technologies and Practices: An Overview

There is no charge to attend the meeting and exhibition, however we ask that you please register so that we can more accurately plan for seating and refreshments. 

Information on the Technical Program and speakers

Information on the Poster Session and Poster abstracts

Information on directions and accommodations

Information on Exhibitors

Information for Vendors

Technical Program:

Below you will find abstracts and biographies for our speakers. 

If you would like to post the meeting/vendor exhibition announcement on a company bulletin board, please see our announcement.

Our first informational flyer is also available.

Speakers and Abstracts

“Laboratory Automation Strategies”

W. Steven Fillers, Ph.D., VP CSO TekCel LLC, Hopkinton, MA USA

Dr. Fillers received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, Department of Food Science and Nutrition.  His interest in biochemistry was continued during postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Schools and at the Sandoz Research Institute (now the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research).  He designed, built, staffed, trained and directed High Throughput Screening facilities at Novartis and later at Biogen (now BiogenIDEC).  Dr. Fillers was a formative member of the first LRIG group in NJ and established the second LRIG chapter in MA.  Currently, he is VP CSO at TekCel, a Board Member of the LRIG-NE and LRIG Executive Board Member-At-Large.    

“Automated Analysis of Edible Oils and Lubricants by FTIR Spectroscopy – Problems and Solutions”

F.R. van de Voort, McGill IR Group, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

The IR spectra of oils, whether of the edible or lubricant variety, contain a wealth of compositional information that can be used not only for qualitative “fingerprinting” but also to assess numerous quality parameters, often on the basis of a single spectral measurement. Since the advent of FTIR spectrometers, which has seen IR spectroscopy slowly evolve into a robust instrumental technique, a wide variety of quantitative methods have been developed for the analysis of oils. However, automation of these methods has been problematic, primarily because the inherently viscous nature of oils makes it difficult to pass them through narrow transmission cells. This presentation will focus on how a variety of oil analysis methodologies have been developed and automated, introduce the concept of spectral reconstitution to facilitate the analysis of viscous samples and outline how 2D correlational spectroscopy can potentially provide solutions to problems associated with variable underlying absorptions.

Dr. Frederick van de Voort obtained his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in the field of Food Science. He taught and carried out research at the Universities of Saskatchewan and Guelph and established and chaired the Department of Food Science at McGill University, where he continues as professor. He has published ~150 peer reviewed scientific articles with an emphasis on analytical methodology development. In 1990 he founded the McGill IR Group to develop quantitative Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for the analysis of food and biological systems, focusing on edible oils. More recently he has developed FTIR based lubricant analysis systems in partnership with a Montreal based lubricant company, Thermal Lube.

 Note:  Dr. van de Voort’s work was published in the February 2006 issue of JALA.

“High Throughput Crystallization System Development at Bristol-Myers Squibb”

Dr. Anne I. Song, Senior Research Investigator I, Bristol-Myers Squibb, New Brunswick, NJ USA

Dr. Song earned her Ph.D. from the State University of New York in Stonybrook in Physical Organic Chemistry with Dr. le Noble.  She completed her postdoctoral research with Dr. Jerome Berson at Yale University and obtained a Programmer Diploma from the Chubb Institute.  She taught for four years as at Drew University and Hartwick College and joined the Automation Group at Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2000.  Currently, she is part of the “lab to plant” group as a Senior Research Investigator focusing on Systems Development and Integration.

 Note:  Dr.  Song’s work was published in the April 2006 issue of JALA.

“Microarray Biochips for High-Throughput Drug Screening”

Moo-Yeal Lee, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Solidus Bioscience Inc., Troy, NY USA

Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Chemical Engineering.  He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Tokyo, Japan and continues to serve as Research Consultant to NANONIX of Taejon, Korea.  Dr. Lee also served as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is currently Senior Scientist at Solidus Biosciences Inc. in Troy, NY.  Dr. Lee has authored 32 peer-reviewed research papers and holds 5 patents.  He is a member of the Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Japan Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the American Chemical Society.

Poster Session:

Students, individuals and companies are invited to bring posters for display at the meeting.  Posters must be mounted on a rigid backing such as foam core board suitable for use with an easel.  Hanging posters on the wall by any means will not be permitted.  We will not have any prizes for posters at this meeting, however we hope to have cash prizes for student posters at future events.  There is no charge to display a poster and easels will be provided for you.  Please contact the Upstate New York LRIG ( LRIG.Tech.Valley@lab-robotics.org ) if you plan to display a poster so that we can be sure we have enough easels.  If you would like to have your poster posted on this website, please contact us.

Poster Abstracts:

Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (ASOM)

Benjamin Potsaid, Ph.D., Center for Automation Technologies and Systems

Biological studies, drug discovery, and medical diagnostics benefit greatly from automated microscope platforms that can outperform even the most skilled human operators in certain tasks. However, imaging of small biological specimens and microorganisms that are living and moving is often hampered by a traditional microscope’s small field of view at high resolution. This paper discusses a new optical microscope design, called the Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (ASOM), which uses a deformable mirror combined with a custom scanner lens to allow for rapid scanning of the object space to effectively enlarge the field of view. Using a high speed scanning mirror, the ASOM captures a complete image (not a single point) at each scan position and assembles image mosaics on the fly. Consequently, this microscope offers advantages when compared to moving stage based approaches or confocal microscopes. Whereas previous work on imaging motile organisms has primarily focused on tracking only one temporally challenging specimen at a time within a single field of view, this microscope is well suited for the tracking of multiple moving organisms or larger organisms simultaneously at both the full animal and single cell level. In studies requiring targeted probing, manipulation, external stimulation, or sensing, the ability of the microscope to automatically monitor several regions of the specimen without agitating the workspace is particularly advantageous. A scanning illumination system using an LED light source that can be rapidly turned on and off minimizes unnecessary light exposure to the specimen. Using a low cost prototype of the ASOM, we illustrate the imaging capabilities of the instrument with biological demonstrations.

 

New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center:  Automated DNA Casework

Danielle J. Brownell, Timothy J. Goble, Nicole Carter, Meegan O. Fitzpatrick, Amy L. Russell, Allyson M. Day, John C. Brenner, Demetra Xythalis, Melissa A. Lee, Dr. Allison Eastman, Dr. Barry Duceman – NYSP Forensic Investigation Center

To accommodate the ever-increasing number of cases submitted to the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center for DNA analysis, the Biological Sciences Casework section has implemented an automated system for processing DNA evidence.  Automated extractions are performed using the Biomek^®2000 Laboratory Automation Workstation with the DNA IQ™ system (Promega). DNA concentrations are determined using the Quantifiler™ Human DNA Quantification Kit (Applied Biosystems) in conjunction with the ABI PRISM^® 7000 and 7500 Sequence Detection Systems.  The Biomek^®2000 Laboratory Automation Workstation is then utilized for normalization of the extracted samples (Normalization Wizard – Genetic Identity Version, Promega/Beckman Coulter) and PCR set-up using the AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus^® and COfiler^® PCR Amplification Kits (Applied Biosystems). Amplified DNA samples are run on the ABI PRISM^® 3100 Avant and analyzed with GeneMapper^® ID Software.  Under most circumstances, samples are extracted, quantified, normalized, and amplified within two days.  Throughout the entire process, an integrated Laboratory Information Management System (Porter Lee) is used to facilitate note taking, generate worksheets, and track samples. These high-throughput methodologies have a capacity to run up to 640 samples per month, and to date, over 30 cases have been processed by this automated system.  Future plans include integration of a downstream expert review software program to assist in assessment of data quality, mixture resolution, and report preparation.

 

New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center:  Automated DNA Databank

 Brian J. Murphy, Merritt L. Walker, Thomas Leach, Peter Wistort, Dr. Barry Duceman – NYSP Forensic Investigation Center

 The New York State Convicted Offender DNA Databank has been validating its second generation of robotics using the Perkin Elmer Multiprobe^â II HT Forensic Workstations to process oral stains collected on Whatman^â FTA^â cards.  Two 8-tip Multiprobes^â will be utilized to perform automated DNA extractions on 6 mm punches of the oral stain cards in 96 well format with Promega’s DNA IQä System.  One, 4-tip Multiprobe^â will perform automated QPCR set up on the stain card extracts in conjunction with ABI Quantifiler^ä Human kits.  The quantification results from Quantifiler^ä will be processed and formatted into a comma-delimited file, which will be utilized by a second 4-tip Multiprobe^â that is dedicated to normalizing the DNA concentrations with TE^-4.  The same 4-tip Multiprobe^â that is used for normalization will also set up PCR daughter plates with ABI AmpFlSTR COfiler^â and Profiler Plus^â amplification kits.  Finally, a third, 4-tip Multiprobe^â will be utilized to set up plates for capillary electrophoresis on six ABI Prism^â 3130 XLs.  These newly automated procedures are expected to increase production levels to approximately 8,400 samples per month in eight-hour work days.  Process enhancements for the future include an integrated LIMS system for sample tracking and an expert system for automated STR analysis.

 

Vari Syringe: Different volumes in each vial

John Brohan

There is sometimes a need to dispense a known different volume in each of many vials. For example diluting compounds to a fixed Molarity, or grinding whole tissues in Acetonitrile.  These applications are typically inconvenient to automate with large  robots. A small (~$5,000) robot is presented to do just this. The volumes can be any column on an Excel Spreadsheet, and it's easy to adjust the target rack so that it matches the desired layout for the dispensing.

 The hardware is a Hamilton Company Microlab 500 combined with the Vari-Syringe software.

 jbrohan@tradersmicro.com  (514) 995-3749 http://www.tradersmicro.com/Projects/Vari-Syringe/VSMainPage.html

 

From the Factory to the Lab:  Flexible automation solutions that provide quality and quantity
 

Applied Robotics, Inc.
 

As the biotechnology field continues to grow, so does the demand for material handling applications that can meet the needs of academic laboratories and biotechnology research companies across the country.  Scientists in drug discovery, biotechnology and clinical diagnostics seeking to produce faster, more accurate data at a reduced cost have increasingly turned to industrial automation suppliers—who have overcome similar obstacles in microchip and electronic applications—for flexible automation solutions. 

 

Applied Robotics, Inc, a global supplier of end-of-arm tooling, has responded to this need by developing a flexible solution package that enables laboratories to acquire the robotic tools necessary to carry out the multitude of automation applications required in scientific discovery.  This customizable suite of products, including servo and pneumatic grippers, microplate hotels, tool changers and collision sensors, can be applied to the user’s choice of motion systems—whether it is a robot arm, linear slide or other method of mobility.  These products, which integrate easily with each other and operate within a closed or open architecture system, often result in high throughput at a significant cost reduction. 

 

By understanding the value of flexible, customized end-of-arm tooling solutions that Applied Robotics is able to provide, life scientists will be able to witness greater efficiencies and benefit from accelerated research and development processes, reductions in human error, increased volumes of sample tracking and/or an improvements in sterile conditions. 

Directions and Accommodations:

The meeting will be held at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center

A special room rate of $148 has been set up for this event UNTIL OCTOBER 5, 2006.  Specify Reservation Code #1145RY.

If you will be coming in by train, please contact LRIG.Tech.Valley-at-lab-robotics.org for shuttle information from the train station to the hotel.

Amtrak Schedule

Exhibitors:  The following Vendors will be exhibiting at the upcoming Meeting/Vendor Exhibition.  Please make plans to speak with our exhibitors and see the latest product offerings!

Exhibitor Information:  View Exhibitor Information Sheet