dragonfly^® crystal by SPT Labtech

"The product is user-friendly and easy to use. It speeds up the process for preparing grids for crystallisation."

"I like the speed of setting up plates and the ability to handle fairly viscous agents quite reliably - even at small volumes. Resalable (and bigger) reservoirs would have been nice though, to minimize manual handling. The software interface lets you customise most settings, but interoperability with other systems is still somewhat limited. "

"I found the software to control the Dragonfly straightforward and quick to use, even as a completely inexperienced crystallographer. The hardware seems robust and is simple to set up."

"The dragonfly is a very user-friendly instrument to use and ideal for producing custom crystallisation trays. It makes an ordinarily very tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone manual process a fully-automated breeze."

"I have been able to learn quickly how to use this product. I would recommend this product to others as well."

"The Dragonfly from TTP LabTech is my "go to" condition optimization robot. We have had one in the lab for about six months now, and are quite happy with its performance. We use it to set 48 or 96 well optimization trays (not deep well blocks), which we then transfer to a crystallization robot (the Mosquito in our case) to dispense the protein and complete the tray setup. The Dragonfly is extremely easy to use, and kit setup is very straightforward. There are no preset input component requirements. You just tell it what your starting solutions are, tell it how you want the gradient spread out over the tray and ask it to calculate. The software will let you know how much of each solution is required and you just aliquot the amount into a disposable tray. The Dragonfly uses disposable tips to pull up and dispense the liquid, so no cross contamination or washing step is required. I recommend the 10 head unit (the one we have) in order to have the space to add enough solutions to your screen; syringes only hold 4 ml, so sometimes you need to take up two positions for a single solution. The kit setup is quite quick (8-10 min for me so far), but this will of course vary depending on the number of components required to make your kit. Another plus for me is the support group at TTP. They have been extremely helpful in optimizing our setup, responsive to queries, and have even provided software tweaks for us to run the instrument in the way we want."

"Very quick and easy to use. It has a nice, accurate drop dispensation."

"The writing of the programs was straight forward. I was able to work through creating a program a couple of month after being show how to use it. There was bit of fiddling about to start with but once I had got use to the drop down menus, I could just work though the set up. I had trouble converting the program into a run-able program. This was because I wanted to use more liquid then the well size and couldn’t remember the fix. The pipetting has gone well and it is easy to set up and run. "

"I’m working in the structural biology field. Optimization of protein crystallization conditions is something that can consume a lot of time in a project. This robot allows the creation and dispensing of custom made optimization screens to suit your specific needs, in several different plate formats, in just a few minutes. It can dispense accurate volumes in a wide range of solution viscosities. The software and the robot itself are intuitive and very easy to use. TTP Labtech engineers have been more than willing to help us with any problems or questions that we have. It is unquestionably a very good asset for any crystallization facility. "

"I am happy with the low volume required for setting up screens. The machine is easy to use."

"I am using dragonfly for setting up crystallization condition optimization from stock, robot made my life much easier and speeded up my experiments by about two months! Effectiveness - splendid. Robot enabled high quality results to appear sooner than expected. Very straightforward and intuitive to use. I would completely recommend this product to anyone who is optimizing crystallization condition. Ease of use 5* - because it is easy to use, After Sales Care 4* - because software does not have silly user proof implementation (warnings or step by step guidance might be useful). Value for Money 3* - I do not know how much exactly does it cost so pointing star in the middle was a fair assumption. "

"I used the product to set up two optimization plates. Each one had a different buffer with pH gradient across one direction and increased concentration of PEG across the other. One of the plates had to be split into two areas, one with a constant amount of salt and the other without. Designing the plates with the designer software was easy and straight forward, and setting up the plates was quick and easy. The help I received from TTP Labtech was very useful to get my head around the designing and set-up steps. Two issues I would like to mention, it would be great if there is a way to set-up a pH gradient accurately rather than mixing from two pH values. It will also be helpful if the designed plated can be forwarded directly to the set-up software. All the best. "

"Easy to use, flexible to change the parameters and record the parameters."

"The Dragonfly is a very user-friendly machine that is capable of accurately aspirating viscous liquids and dispensing small volumes. The after sales care is excellent, we have frequently been provided with the support we need."

"This product is very easy to use and the interface is well designed. The technique support we received is very good. I am sure it is going to be a very popular piece of lab equipment.."

"This product is convenient to produce 96 different crystallization conditions for optimization in minutes. It is easy to use and maintain."

"Saves an enormous amount of time and minimises error. Highly recommended."

"An excellent product, it makes setting up optimisation screens very easy."

"The user interface is very "user friendly" and very flexible. The Dragonfly works fast and so far, the accuracy of the dispensing is very satisfying, even with small volumes (30 ul final volume). The support team is very helpful and prompt to answer. Fantastic product. "

"The dragonfly® could be seen as an evolution of the successful technology Mosquito®. The volumes handled are simply larger (microliters). The new robot uses positive-displacement and disposable syringes for pipetting. This enables the accurate handling of viscous solutions such as glycerol at a relatively high speed. As for the Mosquito®, the robot has a small footprint and the interface is user-friendly. Finally, the robot is very robust. We have been using the first of its kind intensively for preparing crystallization screens in 48- and 96-well plates for more than a year without a glitch. In any case, TTP Labtech offers an excellent support. We are now starting to develop other applications such as high-throughput PCR in 384-well plates. "