Transferring Nanoliters to Milliliters of Aqueous Fluids with Sound: The science Behind the New Labcyte Echo® Qualified Reservoir

The Echo® liquid handler revolutionizes liquid handling with acoustic energy. Sound waves eject precisely sized droplets from a source onto a microplate, slide or other surface suspended above the source. This product does not use tips, pin tools or nozzles—completely eliminating contact between the instrument and the liquid. The Echo liquid handler provides powerful benefits: Tipless transfer, resulting in dramatic cost savings Improved information about sample integrity and improved transfer quality through measurement of DMSO hydration level Elimination of the need for calibration through Dynamic Fluid Analysis™ technology, a patented Labcyte process Elimination of cross-contamination, carryover or leachates through non-contact transfer Accurate, precise movement of nanoliter-scale quantities, enabling assay miniaturization and further reducing costs Better results through direct dilution of compounds, an improvement over serial dilution methods Greatly simplified assay development and dilution processes through the flexibility to transfer any volume of liquid from any well to any other well

The Echo 525 platform, like the other Echo liquid handler models, is designed to use sound energy to transfer reagents. Unlike the other Echo models, the Echo 525 platform transfers at a larger volume increment (25 nL). This enables the more rapid transfer of aqueous reagents required in biochemical and genomics assays setup.