With the continued spread of the Coronavirus around the world, government agencies and health departments are looking for ways to scale up their testing abilities in order to detect and manage its spread.
Automated liquid handling systems have helped to increase throughput, drive efficiencies and improve reproducibility and accuracy in biotechnology and pharmaceutical workflows. When workflows are improved in this way, they can play an important role in successfully executing screening campaigns.
Public and private testing laboratories are under pressure
With the rapid increase in the number of samples all over the world, laboratories need to process them quickly and safely. The spread of Coronavirus is putting them under pressure with many new cases being diagnosed daily. For each positive case, many potentially positive patient samples need to be screened.
Every possible safety precaution must be taken in handling potentially infected samples and this is where automation can be beneficial. It removes technicians from many of the hands-on aspects of sample processing, so they are at less risk of infection. Automation of workflows in laboratories also increases sample throughput and reduces the risk of human error.
Automated Coronavirus detection solution
Automated liquid handling systems for coronavirus screening are available from Aurora Biomed. The company has experience working with health authorities and viral diagnostic kit providers to offer automation solutions that enable viral RNA isolation and qPCR reaction setup based on pre-developed protocols.
The automated liquid handling systems are compatible with most commercially available Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) detection kits, thus being able to form part of a turnkey Coronavirus screening solution. With the right laboratory infrastructure in place, it is possible to rapidly process and screen patient samples. Using cabinets can increase safety and minimize contamination risks.
Improvements in liquid handling technologies
Liquid handling technologies have been around for a while but they have had reliability issues, were difficult to use and were not compatible with all bead-based assay technologies and biological reagent types. They have improved considerably since then and advances in areas such as cell culture techniques, assay design and automation now allow scientists to choose which assay is most appropriate for screening.
The flexible, easy-to-use liquid handling systems available today have intuitive interfaces making them more affordable, easier to use and quick to implement. The powerful functionality increases operational efficiencies, enabling liquid handling tasks to be performed at a rate and scale that is only possible when using automation.
Exceptional precision and accuracy is possible today when dispensing even the smallest volumes. The latest displacement pipetting systems use accurate, disposable pistons to dispense liquids. They can handle many volumes and liquid types.
Only using the pistons once means the potential for contamination, carryover or clogging is reduced and accuracy is consistent. Other innovative dispensing technologies are even completely eliminating contact between liquids and the instrument.
Automated liquid handling in screening campaigns
Screening campaigns use a number of automated liquid handlers to dispense a variety of solutions. As liquid handling plays a large role in just about every stage of the screening process, the choice of a liquid handling system has to be carefully considered, taking into account a number of important factors.
The impact of any uncertainty when it comes to a liquid handling device can be significant. Laboratories need to be able to reap the many benefits of automated liquid handling without having to second-guess the quality of the equipment.
Thanks to the reduction in cost, it is possible to purchase equipment today with the appropriate reliability, integrity and reproducibility. Liquid handling technologies can, therefore, play at important role in the successful execution of screening campaigns.