Simplicity, Productivity, Confidence:
Taking Complexity out of Drug Discovery
Do more in less time and less space: The Fluent™ Laboratory Automation Solutions presents a simple way to take complexity out of drug discovery.
High-definition liquid handling ensures precision and accuracy over a wide range of volumes, from sub-microliter to several milliliters. The patented Adaptive Signal Technology™ detects even small volumes of liquid with precision, allowing for the use of smaller reagent and sample volumes for significant cost savings. The patented Dynamic Deck™ uses a modular, multilevel design to offer exceptional deck capacity. All of the additional devices required for cell-based applications, such as incubators, microplate readers and washers, can be flexibly integrated into a single, fully automated platform.
Liquid handling and labware logistics have never been easier, thanks to the instrument’s three, task-specific arms, which operate simultaneously to ensure timely completion of assays, minimizing the time cells spend outside of the incubator. Perfect coordination of the robotic arms is achieved by the platform’s Path Finder™ move optimization technology, which continuously adapts to the changing topography of the workdeck, avoiding the need for laborious programming of individual arm movements, helping to accelerate both set-up and routine system use.
The platform’s intuitive FluentControl™ software and built-in touchscreen interface simplify day-to-day activities by guiding scientists through routine set-up and operation of the system for consistent, reproducible operation.
Fluent was developed around the application-specific needs of laboratories. The first Fluent solution launched on the market meets the need for automation in the strongly growing cell biology market. It takes the complexity out of cell biology research, simplifies day-to-day tasks and increases both throughput and reliability, and improves the quality of test results. Fluent was launched together with specific application notes that were developed in collaboration with partners to generate real scientific data and provide a proof of concept for a selection of commonly used cell-based assays.
Tecan started marketing its second application-specific Fluent solution at the beginning of 2015, which is designed to simplify the automated management of samples for drug discovery (compound management).
Teach-free Software!
The relevance of the performance ability of fully automated solutions leaves little to debate, but this means little for a laboratory if there was no self-explanatory, application-centric user guidance. The Fluent™ Laboratory Automation Solutions comes with software that features a straight-forward design in order to make setup, management and operation of the instrument as intuitive as possible. The software guides users step by step through every task, making even the most sophisticated assays easy to run. All settings can be made using a touchscreen.
Depending on the distribution of responsibilities the software enables personalization. Thus, users only see processes that are relevant to their respective tasks. This reduces handling errors tremendously.
Automation Boosts Productivity
Accelerating innovation and engineering confidence in research is Tecan’s driving force. Scientists at the research institute IME ScreeningPort – part of the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology – already benefit from Tecan’s newest automation solution.
IME ScreeningPort was among the first to install the new Fluent Laboratory Automation Solution for cell-based assays in March 2014. Dr. Philip Gribbon, Assistant Department Head of IME ScreenPort, has been very pleased with the instrument’s performance so far: “The Fluent workstation’s fully-integrated design is ideal for our needs, allowing us to incorporate many of the auxiliary devices needed to perform our assays into a single, compact workstation. Our platform has a Tecan Infinite® M1000 PRO multimode reader and HydroSpeedTM plate washer – both of which are extremely good instruments – as well as an incubator and a carousel to store labware and assay plates. This gives us the capacity and flexibility to quickly switch between, for example, a kinetic assay that only takes a few hours and a cell-based assay with long incubation times that can take several days, helping to ensure that project deadlines are met and the instrument is being used efficiently.”