Accelerating ag-tech R&D through innovative liquid handling

Environmental microbiology company BW Fusion was originally established to remediate soils affected by gas fields and oil spills, before expanding into biofertilizer development and the agricultural sector. BW Fusion’s laboratory services have also transformed from quality control testing to R&D, and this broader remit made it increasingly difficult for the lab to manage its growing workload. This prompted the team to explore the benefits of alternative pipetting and laboratory automation solutions.

The lab initially acquired EVOLVE single channel pipettes from INTEGRA Biosciences to speed up its varied workflows, but many of these processes require repetitive transfers between different types of labware – such as microcentrifuge tubes and microplates – with different well spacings. To help ease this bottleneck and improve lab throughput, the team now uses INTEGRA’s intuitive VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipettes. Tip spacing on the VOYAGER can be easily and quickly adjusted to enable the simultaneous transfer of several samples between differing labware formats, reducing the need for many tedious and slow individual transfers.

Serial dilutions and microplate-based assays are vital parts of the lab’s workflows, and the lab uses a VOYAGER pipette mounted on an ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot to automate and standardize liquid handling steps for these tasks. This automated set-up releases staff from time-consuming manual pipetting, while guaranteeing that the task is performed exactly the same way each time. Platform complexity can be a bar to the adoption of lab automation, but the BW Fusion team found the VOYAGER and ASSIST PLUS set-up straightforward to implement, needing just half a day of training to get up to speed. This ease of use enabled the lab to quickly reap the benefits of automated processing. In addition, the VIALAB automation software used to program pipetting protocols is an intuitive, open platform that is free to use, so anyone in the lab can install it on their computer and easily build their own processes. Crucially, it is possible to simulate each pipetting program beforehand, allowing users to pre-emptively identify and correct any programming errors, reducing time and reagent wastage.

BW Fusion has also invested in a DOSE IT peristaltic pump for the rapid and efficient removal of liquid from bioreactors, as well as other key tasks where sterile and consistent dispensing is critical, such as preparing TSA plates and preparing samples for field trials. The DOSE IT, used with a foot pedal, has been extremely helpful in ensuring that all the samples sent out contain equal and consistent volumes, and that their contents remain sterile during transportation. Using the pump is also far more efficient than preparing field samples individually using a single manual serological pipet, as this is extremely time consuming and takes staff members away from other, more complex and interesting projects.

Similarly, the PIPETBOY GENIUS intelligent serological pipet controller has been invaluable for certain tasks that require the individual transfer of larger volumes – up to 100 ml – during the preparation of culture flasks, removing the need for tedious transfers of multiple smaller aliquots per flask. This has improved the lab’s throughput and efficiency, saving valuable time and human resources.

Consistency is essential in any R&D process, as it is vital that each task is performed in exactly the same way every time for repeatable results. INTEGRA’s solutions have allowed BW Fusion to build both speed and reproducibility into its workflows, enabling the team to dedicate more time to scientific discoveries that will advance the important fields of bioremediation and ag-tech.