In this issue of T3 Update Online, we provide you a recap of the exciting LabAutomation 2008 trade show. It was a pleasure seeing many of you there. And for those of you who couldn’t attend, read on to find out what you missed (just follow the links to posters and other materials). Our posters cover topics including reaction setup on Biomek® and BioRAPTR FRD™ workstations, new applications of our robust Agencourt® chemistries and the application of the Cisbio IP-One HTRF* assay to our automation systems. We're also featuring posters on quality issues in high-throughput genotyping laboratories as well as a review of the use of the ARTEL system to troubleshoot difficult pipetting problems.
With SBS (the annual meeting of the Society of Biomolecular Sciences) 2008 just around the corner, we're also including a sneak preview of what we have in store for you in St. Louis, Missouri (USA). We hope to see many of you there, either in our booth, at the tutorial program or our poster sessions.
Also in this issue, we’re introducing you to research by Dr. Marcie Glicksman's laboratory at Harvard Partners in Cambridge, Mass. (USA). Her team uses Biomek laboratory automation workstations and other Beckman Coulter automation in neurological drug screening, working with extensive libraries of candidate compounds.
Here at Beckman Coulter, our Integrated Solutions team develops custom hardware and software for customers who require integration of incubators, plate readers, flow cytometers and more. Many of these developments turn out to have broad appeal for our customers. To highlight these custom developments, we are introducing the Integrated Solutions Showcases publication. The first two of these are now ready and are described in this issue of T3 Update.
The past few months have seen a lot of activity on the Club Biomek Web Forum, demonstrating just how much you, our users, appreciate that user community. In this issue, we review some of the most popular threads that provide technical information on new ways to bring data into the Biomek directly from Microsoft* Excel* worksheets, display data during runs and provide robust button-based prompts that can eliminate error in user data entry.
We thank you for continuing to use T3 Update Online to learn about the latest news from Beckman Coulter. For those of you attending SBS 2008, pre-register for our tutorial “High Throughput Automation of Cisbio’s IP-One HTRF Assay using the BioRAPTR FRD Microfluidic Workstation and PARADIGM™ Detection Platform,” and you’ll be entered to win a Chumby** device.
We will see you under the Arch in St. Louis, Missouri!
Marc Goldstein, Ph.D., Mary X. Guan and Keith Roby. Learn more in the "About the Editors" section.
Beckman Coulter LabAutomation 2008 Recap We want to thank all of our users for making LabAutomation 2008 such a great show! We had two highly-attended workshops, posters on genetic analysis and cell-based assays and an exciting exhibit booth featuring the full range of Beckman Coulter automated solutions for efficient laboratories. In case you didn't have a chance to visit our booth, check out highlights of what was presented. more
See You Under the Arch at the SBS 14th Annual Conference & Exhibition St. Louis, Mo., April 6-10, 2008 The theme for the 2008 conference is “Enhancing Research Productivity: Quality Tools, Leads & Candidates,” thus we are focusing on solutions to make your labs the most efficient in the world. Come visit us at Booth #1501 to learn about the latest tools from Beckman Coulter that let you simplify, automate and innovate your laboratory. Pre-register with us for the workshops and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a chumby*.
Beckman Coulter 3rd European Biomek® User Summit Opio en Provence, France, June 9-10, 2008
The 3rd European Biomek User Summit continues the successful series of Biomek User Summits and will provide an opportunity to share ideas and applications in Biomek automation. more
Visit Us at AACR at Booth #700
Meet us at Booth #700 and find out Beckman Coulter’s comprehensive cellular and genetic analysis solutions for cancer research at AACR Annual Meeting 2008, San Diego, Calif.
Customer Publications and an Integrated Configuration for Drug Discovery
In the traditional drug discovery arena, our integrated systems have aided in the screening of compounds and many novel assays. To provide examples of this benefit, we have summarized two recent publications from customer Marcie Glicksman, Ph.D, at Harvard Partners in Cambridge, Mass. more
Tips From the Club
In this issue of T3 Update we introduce three of the most popular threads in the Club Biomek Forum, which cover new ways of getting data into the Biomek, as well as a novel way to aid Biomek users by displaying position pause step timers. more
Integrated Solutions Showcase Our Integrated Solutions team develops custom hardware and software for customers who require integration of incubators, plate readers, flow cytometers and more. Many of these developments turn out to have broad appeal to our customers. To highlight these custom developments we are introducing the Integrated Solutions Showcase publication. more
Cisbio Certifies Beckman Coulter’s PARADIGM™ Detection Platform for HTRF* Assays Recently, Beckman Coulter announced that Cisbio International has awarded its homogenous time-resolved fluorescence (HTRF*) certification to the PARADIGM™ Detection Platform. more
Agencourt® Chloropure™ System Isolates DNA and RNA From Plant Material
The new Agencourt® Chloropure™ System was introduced at the Plant and Animal Genome Conference last month where a California State Polytechnic researcher touted its effectiveness in his work on lettuce gene expression. more
Genomics
Automation of PCR* Purification Using Agencourt® AMPure® Reagents on the Biomek® 3000 Laboratory Automation Workstation from Beckman Coulter Li Liu Ph.D., Amy Yoder and Laura Pajak Ph.D.
Upfront Processing of Plasmid DNA for Sequencing Using the Biomek®3000 Laboratory Automation Workstation and Agencourt® CosMCPrep® Kit Matthew Cu and Mary Blair
GenomeLab™ Gene Expression Suite: Using the Biomek 3000 Laboratory Automation Workstation to Perform Quantitation and Normalization of Nucleic Acid Samples Amy Yoder, Matthew Cu, Kelly Marshall, M.S. Laura Pajak, Ph.D.
GenomeLab™ Gene Expression Suite Automation: Reaction Setup and Plate Preparation using the Biomek® 3000 Laboratory Automation Workstation from Beckman Coulter Mary Blair, Kelly Marshall M.S, and Laura Pajak Ph.D.
Automation and Detection of Cisbio’s IP-One HTRF® Assay Using Laboratory Automation Workstation and the PARADIGM™ Detection Platform from Beckman Coulter Amy Yoder, Keith Roby, James Barry, Laura Pajak, Ph.D, Sharon Soh, Chris Harbert, Francois Degorce.
Normalized Detection of Caspase Activity in Tumor Cells Maren Pflueger, Christoph Wiesner, Rudolf Lucas, Josef Atzler, Michael Katzlinger, Jim Barry, Wolfgang Schütt and Harald Hundsberger
Lab Automation in a High-Throughput Genotyping Facility: Quality Assurance and Quality Control Kashif A. Haque, Casey L. Dagnall, Adri O’Neil, and Belynda D. Hicks
Accuracy Matters When Quantitative, Manually-Pipetted Assays Graduate to Automation – A Story in Diagnosing and Troubleshooting Keith J. Albert and Lisa M. Knapp
Biomek®FX Enhanced Automated Sample Titration (BEAST): A Fully Automated Method of Titrating Compound for Counterscreen AssaysJuan B. Crespo, José R. Tormo, Julián Gorrochategui, Pilar Sánchez, Noemí Tabanera, Genoveva Mateos, Patricia Prieto, Belen Pedraza, Myriam Ruiz, Neil Tiedeman, Mike Van Vertloo, Marc Goldstein, Juan José Gragera, Oscar Trabal2 and Fernando Peláez
* All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Where applicable,
the PCR process is covered by patents owned by Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.,
and F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Ltd.
** Chumby is a trademark of Chumby Industries Inc.
For Research Use Only; not for use in diagnostic procedures.