High throughput genotyping for complex diseases with Tecan's Freedom EVO® Workstation

Researchers at the Santiago de Compostela laboratory of the Centro Nacional de Genotipado in Spain are using a Freedom EVO® 150 Workstation, an Aquarius™ multichannel pipettor with a 96 channel head and a Tecan GENios™ plate reader to provide large scale genotyping and SNP analyses of samples for customers throughout Spain.

The bulk of our research involves genetic analysis using high density SNP maps to locate genes that contribute to complex disorders, "explained Dr Chris Phillips, Platform Manager at the Santiago division. "Our throughput is potentially huge, up to 45,000 genotypes per week, and using Tecan liquid handling stations is really important in reaching this goal, especially as the reliability of our equipment is critical. The Freedom EVO's ease of programmability is essential for us; there are a number of particular liquid manipulations we need to do and using the five tip and 96 tip heads together provides us with lots of flexibility - they work together extremely well."

The Freedom EVO is equipped with a number of optional features that make it ideal for automating pre-PCR procedures, including extraction of genomic DNA from fresh or frozen blood samples. Using 384-well plates with this set-up means that up to 48 SNPs can be simultaneously genotyped in one sample, which equates to as many as 70,656 genotypes per week.