Labcyte Launches Walk-Away, Out-of-the-Box Solution

Labcyte Inc. announces the revolutionary Intellectual Scheduler for its POD™ 810 system, which assembles assay-ready "plates-on-demand" for optimizing drug discovery. Unlike traditional sequential schedulers, the Labcyte(R) Intellectual Scheduler is event-based, with built-in intelligence to automatically adjust workflow. The Intellectual Scheduler was developed to maximize productivity and to minimize user intervention, resulting in an out-of-the-box solution that allows users to be up-and-running within days.

"Software is the key to POD utility," said Dr. Rodney Bednar, Senior Investigator/Group Leader/Chief Drug Discovery Engineer/Director of FAST (Facility for Automation & Screening Technology) at Merck & Co., Inc.

"Clearly the biggest differentiator of the Intellectual Scheduler is that the user doesn't have to program anything, ever. The user focuses on the experimental design and lets the Intellectual Scheduler and the Echo application software determine the best steps to achieve the end result. If changes are made, the system dynamically reconfigures itself to accomplish new experimental designs," said Harry Vlahos, Labcyte Director of Software Engineering. "The fact that we have been chosen to showcase this technology at Late Night at LRIG indicates that the community sees the importance of the advance."

In just a few minutes, using a wizard-based tool, users can set up a complex run and walk away. The Intellectual Scheduler optimizes each task, resulting in significantly increased productivity while taking full advantage of the power and flexibility of the award-winning Labcyte Echo liquid handler. Using proprietary acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) technology, Echo liquid handlers provide better results, significant cost savings and are better for the environment compared to traditional liquid handling platforms.

Labcyte also announces the addition of its new Echo Plate Reformat software to its suite of applications for POD plate assemblers and Echo liquid handlers. Echo Plate Reformat software uses a simple, color-coded, drag-and-drop approach to enable users to design assay plates or to reformat existing source plates with ease.