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Highlights from LabAutomation 2010
01-27-2010
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 According to the ALA, 4,113 participants from around the
world attended the conference on emerging laboratory technologies, held at the
Palm Springs Convention Center. The five-day event included 100 podium
presentations from across the field of
laboratory automation, 18 short courses,
200 poster presentations, 18 industry-sponsored workshops and four special
sessions and marketplace
briefings. Special sessions focused on hot topics, such as India's emerging
pharmaceutical market, equipment
purchasing trends in North America and
European standardization efforts regarding laboratory automation.
 This year's attendees included academia, commercial and
government researchers, scientists and engineers from around the globe who
conduct research and develop new technologies to increase productivity,
elevate
experimental data quality, reduce lab process cycle times or enable
experimentation that otherwise would be impossible. The ALA awarded 46
Academic
Travel Awards to students and post-docs who authored poster or podium
presentations.
Plenary speakers
included Hod Lipson of Cornell University; Kei Koizumi of the White House
Office of Science and Technology; and Bruce Sterling,
American science fiction
novelist and blogger.
"The feedback on LabAutomation2010 has
been overwhelmingly
positive and is extremely gratifying to ALA and to the members of the
LabAutomation2010 Scientific Committee," says Robyn Rourick,
LabAutomation2010 conference chair. "This year's special sessions and marketplace briefings as
well as the outstanding plenary series added to an
already strong educational
program. We couldn't be more pleased."
Now in
its fourth year, Innovation AveNEW welcomed eight
start-up companies to the LabAutomation2010 exhibition: BSSN Software of Mainz,
Germany; CellASIC of San Leandro, Calif.; Curiox Biosystems of Singapore;
Cynora GmbH of Leopoldshafen, Germany; Delta Robotics of Berne, Switzerland;
Dotmatics Ltd., of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom; Live Cell Assays of Martinez,
Calif.; and NanoEngineering Corp. of West Palm Beach, Fla.
Winners of the ALA's New Product Award (NPA) Designation,
which recognizes the best of what's
new in the exhibit hall, included Artus
Labs'
Method Genius, a system that allows analytical scientists to identify the
best ways for separating compounds, developing methods and
deconvoluting
degradation products; Beckman Coulter's
SPRIworks, an automated benchtop device
that prepares up to 10 DNA libraries in five hours with high reproducibility
and consistency; and Emerald Biosystems' MPCS Plug
Maker, a new laboratory
instrument developed from the Microcapillary Protein Crystallization System
(MPCS) technology that is used to perform
microfluidic protein crystallization.
In other news from the exhibit floor, Artel, a liquid handling quality assurance tool manufacturer based in Westbrook, Maine, unveiled new features of its MVS Multichannel Verification System, an objective performance assessment and optimization tool for automated liquid handlers. The new features, expected to be available at the end of the first quarter, enhance measurement data comparability, increase the speed of volume verification and allow users to reduce the overall variability of their laboratory processes. Artel demonstrated MVS in its exhibit booth with automated liquid handlers from Beckman Coulter, Tecan, Agilent and Hamilton. Artel also co-hosted a workshop with Hamilton on validating and optimizing Hamilton automated handlers using the MVS. Additionally, it showcased its Liquid Handler Performance Verification service, in which Artel specialists provide onsite volume transfer performance assessment and optimization for automated liquid handlers. Caliper Life Sciences proudly announced that its integrated robotic system was featured in Time Magazine's top 10 scientific discoveries of 2009. The system, designed by Caliper's Automation, Consulting, Engineering and Services (ACES) team, made number 4 on the list. Known as "Adam, the Robot Scientist," the system, as documented by the journal Science, identified the role and function of nearly a dozen previously uncharacterized yeast genes. The achievement marks the first time a robot with virtually no human intervention completed the cycle of the scientific method. Cyntellect Inc., a privately held life sciences company
commercializing products to advance the study of cell biology, stem cell
research, biopharmaceutical production and drug discovery, announced the
availability of the full Cyntellect product portfolio, including the Celigo
Adherent Cell Cytometer, the LEAP Cell Processing Workstation and related
kits
and consumables, to the rapidly expanding life science sector in Asia. The new
distribution deals will enable San Diego-based Cyntellect to expand
its sales
and support network to China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and
Thailand.
Labcyte of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based, which uses sound to move
liquids, introduced two pre-
calibrated liquid class packages for use with its
Echo acoustic dispensers and POD 810 plate assemblers. This expanded
capability will allow its high-
throughput screening customers to not only
transfer compounds in DMSO, but also enables the transfer of a wide range of
liquids necessary to assemble
miniaturized assays for biochemical and
cell-based screening. In addition, the Echo platform can now address a wide
range of growing applications in
genomics and proteomics, such as siRNA
screening, real-time PCR genotyping and protein-based arrays. Labcyte also
introduced a 1536-well source plate
that meets user requests for lower dead
volume and increased working volume. According to Labcyte, the new 1536LDV
plate cuts dead volume in half,
increases the working volume by 12.5 percent
and provides greater throughput compared to other 1536-well source plates.
PerkinElmer Inc., of Waltham, Mass.,
featured several of its
imaging, automation, detection and reagent tools, including Columbus 2.1 Image
Data Management System, a high-volume image data
management and analysis
solution that enables faster interfacing of images and data management; EnSpire
Multilable Plate Reader with ultra-sensitive
luminescence and
temperature-control; JANUS Automated Workstation, a flexible, automated liquid
handling platform; cell::explorer, a robotic automation
platform for cellular
and high-content screening applications; Operetta Compact High Content
Screening System, a high-content screening system with a
workflow-designed user
interface; AlphaScreen SureFire assays, which detect endogenous cellular
kinases; and AlphaLisa "No Wash" Immunoassay kits for
biomarker detection,
including kits specific for human and mouse targets.
Finally, on Monday afternoon, Hamilton held a press briefing
on the latest additions to
its equipment offerings. Matt Hamilton, vice
president, Scott Eaton, director of marketing and sales, and Jason March,
director of marketing, discussed
several of the products being exhibited at the
show, but also hinted that several others will be announced in the very near
future. Among the products
Hamilton has added to its repertoire are NIMBUS
iProbe, an addition to Hamilton's line of compact liquid handling workstations
that can be configured
with any combination of 1 or 5 ml pipetting heads; Rack
Runner, a robotic tool that can integrate multiple -20 degrees Celsius and -80
degrees Celsius
Sample Access Manager (SAM) storage systems into a cluster or
link storage with a Hamilton liquid handling workstation; SAMple Puncher, an
integrated
tube processing module that enables automated punching of tubes from
their storage trays; the Zeus Pipetting Module for IVD instruments, a
self-
contained Z-Excursion Universal Sampler (ZEUS) that aspirates volumes from
1 to 1,000 uL and features Hamilton's air-displacement pipetting technology;
and
conductive CO-RE tips for 384-channel dispensing on Hamilton's MICROLAB STAR
liquid handling platform, which are disposable tips packaged in
nested tip
racks that provide higher packing and storing density and reduced space
requirements. Hamilton also announced the introduction of the CO-RE
384 Shifted
Tip Pickup (STP) Multichannel Probe Head for the MICROLAB STAR platform. The
new head can pick up one column, one row or just one tip
without changing
heads. Partying in Palm Springs
 On Sunday night, a weekend of
short course programs came to
a dramatic end as clusters of booth personnel gathered near televisions in the
exhibit hall to watch the much-anticipated
Saints-Vikings AFC championship game.
Long-suffering fans of the so-called "cursed" Vikings groaned loudly as New
Orleans defeated Minnesota 31-28 in
overtime.
Monday's show ended with the fourth annual Late Night
with LRIG: Rapid Fire Innovation Session, a joint effort by the ALA and the
Laboratory Robotics Interest Group that offers a select few companies a venue to
showcase their new products and technology
innovations. This year, 16 companies
were selected to participate by an esteemed panel of judges from the ALA and LRIG:
 Following that event, things got even more interesting at
the
nearby Hotel Zoso, where conference attendees were treated to the
sounds of
the PerkinElmer Rock Band. Known as "the hardest working band in science,"
PerkinElmer colleagues from around the globe covered classics
from Huey Lewis
to Devo, even donning 1980s-themed costumes at one point during the show.ALA looks ahead to 2011
 Laboratory automation professionals will
return to Palm
Springs next year for LabAutomation2011, to be held Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, 2011.
According to the ALA, Dr. Chad Mirkin of Northwest University will headline the event as one of several plenary series speakers. Mirkin is a world-renowned chemist and member of the White House Science Technology Advisory Council. Code: E01271001 Back |
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