The Automation Partnership Enables Reliable Production of High Quality Cell Plates for Transport Assays

The Automation Partnership (TAP) has begun installations of its new CompacT SelecT Advanced Plating Module (APM). This alternative to the established CompacT SelecT™ system, increases the flexibility of the plating system and will enable researchers to produce consistent, high quality cell plates, ready for use in transport assays.

CompacT APM has been specially designed to maintain cells in “insert well” transport assay plates, ensuring researchers benefit from access to consistent, high quality cells for assay development, cell-based screening and toxicity studies. The system also supports maintenance of cells and media exchange in six well and 24 well plate formats.

The new APM extends the functionality of CompacT SelecT with a flexible plating system to accommodate a mix of different plates for cell dispensing and media exchange in standard and “insert well” plates. This versatile approach allows scientists to save time by automating plate-based applications requiring labour intensive feeding regimes.

CompacT APM’s incubator with its control of temperature, CO2 and humidity and novel ‘SelFeeder’ liquid handling unit reduces damage to cell layers, ensuring cell lines such as HEK and CHO, stem cells and cells for transport assays (including Caco-2 and MDCK) can be successfully cultured to produce more consistent assays.

The SelFeeder media exchange unit, allows CompacT APM to provide scheduled media changes on cells seeded in plates. Additionally, linked sequences of protocols including expansion, plating and maintenance, can be set up and run for weeks to ensure production of consistent cell plates, without the need for time consuming, error prone manual media changes.

Tim Ward, Director of Cell Culture at TAP stated: “TAP has led the way in automating mammalian cell culture since 1989, with CompacT SelecT now the gold standard automated cell culture system having processed millions of contamination-free, high quality cells lines.” Ward continued: “Adding an Advanced Plating Module to a CompacT SelecT now means that scientists can harness automated cell culture technology to reproducibly generate optimum cell lines for use in transport assay plates, which could significantly improve their assay performance.”