Fluent® Laboratory Automation Workstation for compound management
The Fluent Laboratory Automation Workstation for compound management is designed to offer greater throughput and flexibility for compound management workflows, introducing a number of hardware and software options aimed at improving productivity.
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Inconsistent operation, very poor technical support, very expensive to service
Genomic DNA analyses
There are very few places to review this instrument online. So, I'm writing this to make our experience known. Overall, we've had terrible experience with the devices. We currently have two Fluents, a 780 sized and a 480 sized. Cons: - Technical services is horribly understaffed, and so takes way too long to respond with a resolution. - Often, the U.S. based technical services team will have to reach out to the European support group extending response time by a couple days. - Average downtime has been 2-3 weeks, but as long as 2 months (in 2022). - The quoted repair often doesn't solve the issue and another repair is required, extending instrument downtime. - Service contracts are way over-priced Contract is $25K per year per instrument and requires separate annual PM which costs anywhere from $30K - $99K per year per instrument (in our most expensive year, total service costs were little more than $18K) - Even without service contract, expect to spend at least $10K/ year on service. - Touts 3rd party instrument integration, but often with lots of bugs and problems. - New equipment or labware requires hours of tweaking and testing to make operational, not a simple plug-and-play. - Very user-unfriendly programming, especially for setting up custom liquid pipetting (ie. lysis buffers, low conductivity liquids, etc), and expensive to train ($4,700 per person). - Exceptionally valuable training only offered in Europe. Pro: - The only redeeming quality is their offered warranty on repair. Without that we would have certainly spent far more than we already have on service.
Review Date: 3 Jan 2023 | Tecan
The new "Zero-G" function is fantastic!
High throughput screening
The new "Zero-G" function is very helpful, make "teaching plates" really easy; pausing the program and resuming has become very convenient too.
Review Date: 11 Nov 2016 | Tecan
The Fluent Laboratory Automation Workstation for compound management has been developed to simplify and improve the productivity of compound management and assay plate generation activities, and is ideally suited to drug discovery laboratories and centralized compound library facilities.
It offers a host of features to help streamline day-to-day activities, including daughter plate generation, plate reformatting, hit picking and serial dilutions. For maximum liquid handling versatility, the Flexible Channel Arm can accommodate a range of disposable tip options, complemented by washable fixed tips that provide cost-effective reagent and compound distribution, as well as cap piercing capabilities. The fixed tips are also available in a low volume option, offering reliable pipetting below 0.5 µl to help minimize compound consumption and enable effective serial dilutions. This increased flexibility is complemented by the ability to use DMSO – the solvent of choice for most compound libraries – as the system liquid, allowing fast, efficient plate filling without the need for a bulk dispenser module.
Fluent is a unique automation concept built around the application-specific needs of laboratories, delivering more capacity and increased speed. Available in three deck sizes offering capacities from 30 to 72 microplates, it features a modular Dynamic Deck™ with a multilevel design that allows flexible integration of complementary devices, and task-specific arms that can be operated simultaneously to ensure timely completion of assays. High definition pipetting using predefined liquid classes ensures optimal accuracy and reproducibility, and the patented Path Finder™ technology automatically programs the fastest, most efficient route for every arm movement, avoiding the need for laborious manual programming. For ease of use, Fluent’s intuitive touchscreen operation includes graphical instructions and embedded SOPs.
Enhanced labware logistics include a tube handling option for the Robotic Gripper Arm (RGA), and a Stacker module. Compatible with a wide range of common tube formats, the unique Finger Exchange System head automatically changes between tubes or plates and vertical or excentric plate handling, allowing efficient transfer of tubes and simplifying barcode scanning. The Stacker – which is compatible with SLAS-format consumables – is ideally suited to high capacity tip storage, allowing up to 40 racks of nested LiHa disposable tips per stack for increased walkaway times. Both hardware options are fully supported by the platform’s updated FluentControl™ software, which also includes a range of applications and pre-programmed Smart Commands for common activities such as plate replication and reformatting. To streamline integration with upstream and downstream processes, the software also supports both worklisting and 2D barcode scanning, ensuring the Fluent Laboratory Automation Workstation for compound management fits seamlessly into even the most demanding of workflows.
Cytochrome P450 Compound Profiling on the Fluent™ Laboratory Automation Solution
The failure of preclinical drug entities is a major problem for pharmaceutical companies, accounting for substantial proportions of their precious R&D budgets. As a consequence, there is a need to bring compound toxicity testing into a high throughput environment similar to primary efficacy screening. This application note describes a 384-well microplate format lead generation method using three different CYP enzymes, illustrating a typical assay run in an ADME laboratory.
Using the Fluent™ Laboratory Automation Solution for Easy Automation of Hit-Picking and IC50 Plate Generation from Tubes and Microplates
For many years, small molecule drug discovery has relied on the evaluation of one compound against another compound. The workflow frequently begins with picking the key target compounds from a number of different microplates, generally referred to as hit-picking. These key compounds have often been selected based on single concentration data from a high throughput screening (HTS) campaign. This application note describes serial and double serial dilutions of compounds and controls across a 384-well microplate using the Fluent™ Laboratory Automation Solution.
A Fluorogenic Assay for Identification of Coagulation Factor IIa Inhibitors
The protease, thrombin (factor IIa) is an important drug discovery target, playing a central role in the blood coagulation and wound healing processes. The aim of this study was to test the reproducibility of the Fluent laboratory automation system using an assay monitoring thrombin activity. Tecan has re-invented automation with Fluent, a unique instrumentation concept built around the application specific needs of cell biology laboratories.
Epigeneous™ H3K27Me3 Cellular Assay for Measuring Epigenetic Methylation
This application note demonstrates that these cell-based assays were optimized to meet the format requirements of researchers screening epigenetic targets or using them as phenotypic read-out of upstream cell targets. For high throughput screening purposes, the no-wash streamlined assay protocol needs a robust liquid handling system in order to produce the most reliable output. From that perspective, this paper illustrates very clearly how HTRF assays can be easily implemented on the Fluent laboratory automation solution to offer an efficient and robust high throughput screening solution.
Tecan Labwerx Video Guide
Tecan Labwerx produces beyond-the-ordinary solutions for automated laboratory workflows for the fast paced changes in the life sciences.
Tecan Fluent™ Laboratory Automation Solution for Compound Management
Watch this video to learn about Tecan’s Fluent Laboratory Automation Solution for compound management. Designed to offer greater throughput, flexibility and confidence for compound management workflows, the Fluent platform brings unsurpassed speed and flexibility to plate formatting and copying.
