Screening Instrumentation
- Liquid Handling
- Assay Readout: Plate Readers
Liquid Handling Instrumentation
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| Instrument | Echo 550 | Mosquito HTS | Biomek NXp |
| Manufacturer | Labcyte | TTPLabtech | Beckman Coulter |
| Capabilities | Liquid Transfer, acoustic dispense (contact free transfer) | Liquid Transfer, positive displacement disposable tips | Liquid Transfer, pipette-based using disposable tips |
| Applications | Cherry picking and serial dilutions, plate content reformatting, plate replication or dilution, nl addition | Plate content reformatting, plate replication or dilution, nl addition (column format) | Cherry picking, plate compression, plate replication, nL pintool addition (384) |
| Transfer volume range (plate format) | > 2.5 nl | 25 nl - 1200 nl | 20 nl (pintool), 2-250 ul |
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| Instrument | Aquarius2 | Freedom EVO3 (2) | PlateMatePlus1 (2) |
| Manufacturer | Tecan | Tecan | Matrix |
| Capabilities | Liquid Transfer, pipette-based using disposable tips | Liquid Transfer, pipette-based using fixed tips (A) or disposable tips (B) | Liquid Transfer, pipette-based using disposable tips |
| Applications | Plate compression, plate replication, nL pintool addition (96 and 384) | Cherry picking and serial dilutions with plate carousel (A) and sterile 384 plate replication or dilution (B) | Plate content reformatting, plate replication or dilution, nL pintool addition (384), tip washing (384), sterile transfer within biosafety cabinet (1) |
| Transfer volume range (plate format) | 20 nL (384 pintool), 100 nL (96 pintool), 2-200 uL | 2-50 uL (small cassette) and 5-2500 (standard cassette) in 96, 384 and 1536 | 20 nL (384 pintool), 2-100 uL (384), 0.5-300 (96) |
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| Instrument | Multidrop with stacker4 (3) | ELx405 | MultiDrop Combi4 (4) |
| Manufacturer | Titertek | BioTek | Thermo |
| Capabilities | Liquid Dispenser, peristaltic pump-based | Liquid Aspirator/Dispenser | Liquid Dispenser, peristaltic pump-based |
| Applications | Reagent addition with plate stacker | Rigorous within well plate washing | Reagent, cell or media addition within biosafety cabinet (2), reagent addition for light sensitive reagents (1), or standard (1) |
| Transfer volume range (plate format) | 5-395 uL (96 and 384) | 25-3000 uL (96 and 384) | 1-50 uL (96/384) |
1The Plate Mate Plus instrument (Matrix) can transfer reagents from reservoirs or deep 96-well or 384-well plates into stacks of 384-well assay plates using disposable tips. Compound transfers are performed using quilled steel pins on this instrument. One of these systems is installed in a biosafety cabinet for sterile dispensing. The PlateMate2x2 (Matrix) is used primarily for performing compound serial dilutions in 384-well plates for dose-response testing.
2The Aquarius with autoloader (Tecan) can transfer reagents from reservoirs or deep 96-well plates into stacks of 384-well assay plates using disposable tips. Compound transfers are performed using quilled steel pins on this instrument. It is also used to create 384-well plates from 96-well stocks (plate compression).
3The Center houses two Freedom EVO 200 systems (Tecan). One has fixed- tips and is used primarily for small molecule hit-picking, and also can perform serial dilutions for dose-response studies or create plates from samples in Eppendorf tubes. A robotic arm can move plates around the deck and to a large plate-storing carousel. A second system is outfitted with a 384-well pipet tips head, and is used within a biosafety cabinet for sterile, large-scale library plating and reformatting.
4Multidrops (Thermo and Titertek) are a simple-to-use liquid dispenser for 96- and 384-well plates. In the tissue culture hood, it performs sterile transfers of suspended cells and media to screening plates for cell-based assays.
Plate Readers
The FLIPR (Molecular Devices) plate reader (shown at right) is an industry-renowned real-time kinetic cellular assay screening system for identifying early leads against GPCR and ion channel receptors. It is optimized for both fluorescence and luminescence. Supported assays include calcium, cAMP, cGMP, membrane potential, neurotransmitter transporter, fatty acid uptake, and cardiotoxicity assays. 
The new PHERAstar® FSX (BMG LABTECH) for HTS was specifically designed for highest sensitivity and speed. It has a dynamic range of 9 decades for luminescence measurements, new generation laser for highest performance in colorimetric, fluorescent intensity, fluorescent polarization, time-resolved fluorescent detection and dedicated AlphaScreen®/AlphaLISA® measurements.
The Synergy™ Neo2 Multi-Mode Microplate Reader (BioTek) uses patented Hybrid Technology (filter- and monochromator- based optics) including multiple PMTs to deliver ultrafast, high performance in all detection modes without compromise. Detection modes include colorimetric, fluorescent intensity, fluorescent polarization, nanoBRET, time-resolved fluorescent, luminescent and AlphaScreen assays.
The Envision (PerkinElmer) plate reader is a filter-based instrument that can quantify signals from colorimetric, fluorescent intensity, fluorescent polarization, FRET, time-resolved fluorescent, luminescent and AlphaScreen assays. It is extremely sensitive and therefore ideal for reading 384-well plates.
The FlexStationII (Molecular Devices) is a plate-reader with liquid dispensing capability, ideal for measuring kinetic responses in live cells following compound addition. This instrument is primarily used for measuring changes in cellular calcium flux.
The Tecan InfiniTe plate readers are monochromator-based readers to measure absorbance, fluorescence and luminescent signals. They may have advantages over filter based systems when excitation and emission wavelengths are close together, or outside of ranges well represented on our filter-based readers.
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Please contact Yulia Surovtseva (yulia.surovtseva@yale.edu) for the hourly Center use rate applicable to your project.