Beckman Coulter Life Sciences Launches New Series of Automated Workstations at SLAS2017

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences re-emerges as an innovator in automated liquid handling solutions with today’s introduction of the Biomek i-Series Automated Workstations, at the 2017 international conference of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening in Washington D.C.

“Beckman Coulter Life Sciences is renewing its commitment to innovation, our partners and our customers with the introduction of the Biomek i-Series Automated Workstations,” said Demaris Mills, vice president and general manager, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences. “The platform is specifically designed to enable continuous innovation to help our customers meet the ever-changing demands of life science research by delivering improved levels of simplicity, efficiency, adaptability and reliability.”

This is the first major addition to the company’s family of Biomek liquid handling platforms in more than 13 years; and marks a significant period of investment in research and development for the company since it became part of the Danaher global portfolio four years ago.

Extending the Biomek portfolio of automated liquid handlers, the i-Series enables a broader range of solutions for genomics, pharmaceutical, and academic customers. It takes the best of what has already made Biomek an industry-leading brand, combined with additions and enhancements directly inspired by customer input from around the world. The company carried out a worldwide dialogue with customers to identify both the overall direction for future product innovation as well as pinpointing key priorities.

“The challenge of being able to handle evolving workflow priorities – and walk away with confidence knowing that remote access would make 24-hour monitoring, from any location, a reality – were identified as crucial factors,” Mills pointed out.

Additional notable features and accessories include:

• Exterior status light bar simplifies your ability to monitor progress and system status during operation.
• Biomek light curtain provides a key safety feature during operation and method development.
• Internal LED light improves visibility during manual intervention and method start-up, reducing user error.
• Off-set, rotating gripper optimizes access to high-density decks leading to more efficient workflows.
• Large-volume, 1 mL multichannel pipetting head streamlines sample transfers and enables more efficient mixing steps.
• Spacious, open-platform design offers access from all sides, making it easy to integrate adjacent-to-deck, and off-deck processing elements (such as analytical devices, external storage/incubation units, and labware feeders).
• Built-in tower cameras enable live broadcasting and on-error video capture to expedite response time if intervention is needed.
• Windows 10-compatible Biomek i-Series software provides the most sophisticated pipetting techniques available including automatic volume-splitting, and can interface with third-party and all other Biomek support software.

The Biomek i-Series Automated Workstations are available in two decks sizes and various pipetting configurations.