Automated Liquid Handling Systems:

Automated liquid handling systems have revolutionized the laboratory workflow by increasing precision, throughput, and reproducibility of various procedures involving liquids. From drug discovery and genomic analysis to clinical diagnostics, automated liquid handlers are becoming an essential part of most modern life sciences research and medical testing facilities. This article discusses the benefits of automated liquid handling, various types of systems available in the market, and emerging trends shaping the future of this technology.

Types of Automated Liquid Handlers

There are different types of automated liquid handlers suitable for different workflows and throughput needs:

Low-Throughput Systems

Low-throughput liquid handlers are designed to automate routine tasks like serial dilutions, plate replications, reagent additions and dispensing in volumes ranging from microliters to milliliters. They can process plates, tubes and other containers and handle 1-96 samples in parallel. These entry-level systems offer basic pipetting functions to reduce manual errors and save on labor costs for small to medium volume labs.

High-Throughput Systems

For high-volume screening, compound management and genomics labs processing thousands of samples daily, high-throughput liquid handlers with modular designs are used. They have large deck spaces to accommodate many plates and fluidics handling manifolds with up to 384 or 1536 channels for massive parallel sample processing. Capable of dispensing picoliter volumes, these systems can complete dispensing an entire plate in a few minutes, delivering high sample throughput critical for time-sensitive industrial research.

Microfluidic Systems

Microfluidic liquid handlers manipulate fluids in the nano- and picoliter range inside microfabricated polymer or glass chips. They are suited for applications involving rare cell analysis, single-cell genomics and precision bioassays. Complex multi-step workflows involving mixing, imaging and incubation are possible on-chip due to integrated fluidic and electronic controls. The compact designs and consumption of tiny fluid volumes make microfluidic systems green alternatives for specialty molecular research.

Applications and Benefits

Automated Liquid Handling Systems are applied across diverse fields:

Drug Discovery
- Streamline compound libraries management, high-throughput screening of hundreds of thousands of compounds for hits in parallel.

Genomics
- Automate complex NGS sample prep workflows like library preparation, target enrichment and quality control for rapid genotyping and sequencing.

Clinical Diagnostics
- For high-volume testing of patient samples in centralized labs, liquid handlers increase throughput of assays for diseases, allergies and genetic conditions testing.

Research Laboratories
- Beyond screening, liquid handlers are integral for sample normalization, serial dilutions of reagents, assay optimization, reformatting plates and tubes.

They deliver numerous benefits over manual pipetting:
- Precise volumes ensure accuracy and reproducibility of experiments
- Eliminate human errors for consistency in large datasets
- Reduce tedium and risks from repetitive pipetting tasks
- Accelerate workflows through parallelization and high throughput
- Minimize fluid carryover between samples for better assay data
- Automated workflow tracking promotes data integrity and regulatory compliance



Automated liquid handlers have revolutionized various scientific disciplines by automating tedious liquid-based tasks. Their precision, throughput and reproducibility benefits facilitate high-productivity research and diagnostics critical in drug discovery, genomics and healthcare sectors. Advancements in miniaturization, integration, software and artificial intelligence will further augment the capabilities of these automated liquid handling robots. They will remain pivotal instruments for accelerating scientific workflows and discovery in the coming decades.

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