Caliper launches liquid handling system
system, which enables independent control of fluid delivery to
individual microplate wells, becoming only one of a handful of
liquid handlers currently on the market that can independently
control fluid delivery to each well.
The Caliper Sciclone i1000 Liquid Handling System is a system that controls liquid delivery into each well of a 96- or 384-well microplate. It is capable of aspiration and non-contact dispensing as well as pipetting of volumes between 10 µL and 1000 µL.
The i1000 joins the inL10 and ALH 3000 systems in Caliper's line of Sciclone liquid handlers in which the product line uses "multi-MEMS" technology. Each of the instrument's 96 fluid channels has a MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) flow meter that controls, monitors and verifies delivery of fluids.
In addition to providing simultaneous multi-volume pipetting capabilities, this type of design improves precision of liquid handling
The system also features real-time dispensing verification and independent channel control. It also includes well-by-well liquid level detection which enables confirmation of liquid prior to pipetting 96 channel transfers up to 1 mL across microplate-based tube racks, deep-well plates, or SPE filter plates.
A 21 CFR Part 11 compliant audit trail feature for liquid handling performance is included as is software for managing data generation and reporting
The features of the i1000 make it applicable in key applications such as 96-well solid phase extraction, one-step plate normalisation, protein purification and oligonucleotide synthesis purification.
The Caliper Sciclone inL10 system, introduced in the Spring of 2004, pipettes liquid volumes between 10 nanolitres and 10 microlitres, while the Sciclone i1000 is designed to handle larger volumes - from 10 microlitres to 1000 microlitres.
Mark Roskey, Caliper's vice president of marketing said: "The most popular feature of these systems is their 'one-step normalisation', whereby experiments requiring multi-level dilutions can be executed with only two liquid transfers."
As part of a standard configuration, the Sciclone i1000 comes mounted on an iBlox table, which facilitates easy transport extending the modularity of the unit to the systems level. Adding automatic plate feeding and removal, incubators, readers, and other components into a fully automated system can be achieved too.
The Caliper Sciclone i1000 system is currently available now. More information can be obtained from the company's website.
