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Takahiro Nakamura, Beckman Coulter K.K., Japan Earlier this year, Beckman Coulter launched the Biomek 3000 and Biomek NX Laboratory Automation Workstations. The addition of these two platforms extends the product offering for sample preparation instruments in terms of size, throughput, and price range, and complements the popular Biomek 2000 and Biomek FX. As part of this Biomek continuum, the Biomeks 3000, NX, and FX now share a common software platform, enabling users to easily adjust to changes in throughput and application needs. This edition of T3 Update On-Line features the Biomek NX and its use by the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan. RIKEN's Center for Developmental Biology, as a core basic research center, is systematically studying developmental and regenerative biological phenomena in relation to discovering medical treatments, which address the health challenges confronting an aging society. Dr. Hiroshi Tarui's Genome Resource and Analysis Subunit provides support to the Creative Research Promoting Program, including DNA sequencing and analysis services used by all laboratories at the Center. The laboratory processes small-, medium-, and large-scale requests, with turnaround times of less than one week to one month, and at rates of up to 1,920 samples per day. In addition to the Biomek FX single-bridge multichannel instrument already in use for array applications, Dr. Tarui purchased both Biomek NX Multichannel and Biomek NX Span-8 with gripper instruments. The multichannel instrument is used for sequence reaction setup and cleanup. Currently, the instrument is running in a standalone fashion. Due to the number of manual interventions required in the protocols, the laboratory has a project in place to fully automate the processes, including ethanol precipitation. The automated system will integrate a thermal cycler, centrifuge, plate sealer and piercer with a Beckman Coulter ORCA® robotic arm. The system will process up to four 384-well plates in one day, including thermal cycling, and run five days per week. The Biomek NX Span-8 with gripper platform is used along with the Biomek FX multichannel instrument for hit picking and array applications. The Biomek NX is integrated with Beckman Coulter's Stacker Carousel to provide increased plate supply and storage. The laboratory hit-picks from cDNA libraries consisting of approximately 110,000 clones in 384-well plate formats. This complex task is made easy with the worklist capability of Biomek Software.
Among the Biomek NX features most welcomed by Dr. Tarui's laboratory were the flexibility, yet ease-of-use, of the Biomek Software, and the commonality of the software between the Biomeks NX and FX. The common software allows for efficient method development and transitioning between platforms, as well as a reduced learning curve for users. From a hardware and systems perspective, the laboratory appreciates Beckman Coulter's concern for safety. Both the Biomeks NX and FX incorporate a light curtain on the front of the instruments, which when interrupted (by, for example, a hand), immediately causes the instrument to stop and avoids any possibility of injury due to moving components. Finally, the need for a quality instrument, with a small footprint, offered at a reasonable price, made Dr. Tarui comment:
"The Biomek NX is the first device that hit our expectation."
Additional Information: For comments or questions about T3 Update, please contact David Daniels, Ph.D., editor.
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