Software fully integrates liquid handling processes

Aitken Scientific’s A-S Automate software has allowed leading liquid handling company Deerac Fluidics to completely integrate its high performance processes and provide a fully automated product portfolio.

Aitken has partnered closely with Deerac to develop a cost effective standard solution that removes the need for individual custom software for each interfacing robotic instrument. Deerac’s Equator™ range of liquid handling systems uses patented technology for a wide variety of low-volume dispensing applications in genomics and drug discovery.

A-S Automate enables the Equator’s precision multi-channel dispensers to work with robotic plate handlers and provide total walk-away operation of automated systems. Forty plates an hour can be loaded from a plate stacker and automatically transferred to the Equator, as the instruments are both simultaneously controlled by the same software. The standard user interface shows available methods, tabbed dialogues where the status of each item of equipment can be viewed, and a set of buttons to allow the operator to run, pause and stop a process.

The installation and set-up of A-S Automate software for the Equator is extremely straightforward and user friendly. Readily expandable, it can be customised to include additional devices such as plate sealers, and barcode and plate readers. Hardware drivers are available to control a wide range of laboratory instruments, and further drivers can be created for new hardware as part of any project undertaken by Aitken Scientific.