Redd&Whyte, the specialist provider of novel liquid handling technology, has launched the Preddator S1, a unique instrument designed for successful low volume dispensing of cells, beads, and biochemical reagents into 96- to 3,456-well plates. The Preddator will be demonstrated at ELRIG Drug Discovery 2010 in Coventry, UK, 1-2 September, booth O4, and at Miptec 2010 in Basel, Switzerland, 20-24 September, booth J05.
Low volume pipetting (20 nl – 100 ml) of cells, beads and biochemicals is used routinely in drug discovery and research applications, but current technologies are inadequate at high throughput, causing problems such as blockage of tips or damage to cell samples. The Preddator’s ground-breaking technology ensures highly accurate and repeatable low volume dispensing of biological materials into most types of microtitre plate, including those with peripheral evaporation wells and channels.
“After talking to many scientists we realised there was a strong need for new technology,” explained Roger Poole, MD at Redd & Whyte. “High throughput screening requires very high standards of precision and accuracy, but the unreliability of dispensers for low volumes of cells, beads and biochemicals was causing real problems. The Preddator overcomes these issues, allowing drug discovery laboratories to upgrade fully from 384-well based formats to higher throughputs, increasing productivity and saving considerable costs.”
Redd & Whyte’s unique technology is based on concepts already used in a number of other industries, including printed circuit board manufacturing, industrial inkjet printing and robotics used in the automotive industry. A well-known pharmaceutical company has already requested a large number of Preddator systems to equip its screening laboratories globally.