Labcyte Introduces Echo 520 Liquid Handler for Medium Throughput Laboratories

Labcyte today announced the introduction of the latest member of its acoustic dispensing family, the Echo^® 520 liquid handler, which was developed for the medium-throughput laboratory. The 520 system provides high accuracy and precision transfers of a wide variety of solutions at an appropriate price for the laboratory that needs to transfer as many as 100,000 solutions per day. Like other Labcyte Echo liquid handlers, the Echo 520 improves data quality by avoiding loss of sample by adsorption onto tips and intermediate plates. This system uses the same acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) technology that has enabled the leading pharmaceutical companies to reduce the volume of their assays while obtaining more reliable data. The rapid ejection of 2.5 nL droplets facilitates the use of 96-, 384-, 1536- and 3456-well assay plates.

“The Echo 520 liquid handler will bring our ADE technology to a wider number of users,” said CEO, Dr. Elaine J. Heron. “This new addition to the product line provides the best-in-the-industry precision and accuracy at a lower price. The Echo 520 is fully compatible with Labcyte software for cherry picking and setting up flexible dose-response assay plates. It, like the 550 and 555 systems, is immediately and fully compatible with lab automation.

“This new product makes the advantages of ADE accessible to the laboratory which could not afford and did not need the high throughput of our 550 and 555 systems. And these laboratories can feel comfortable knowing that if their throughput needs increase, they can upgrade the 520 to higher throughput versions,” said Heron.

As the leader in acoustic droplet ejection, Labcyte offers direct support in North America, Europe and Japan for the Echo 520 and our other systems. Additionally, the Labcyte software for cherry picking and flexible dose-response assays optimally exploits the many advantages of precise low nanoliter liquid transfer. Like other Labcyte systems, the Echo 520 can be used to transfer a wide variety of common aqueous buffers used in protein and nucleic acid assays, as well as DMSO for drug compound management and screening.