SelectScience
Join Free
Accelerating Science
NewsLab Automation

University Installs Integrated, Automated Compound Storage and Screening System from Hamilton

Hamilton
27 Jan 2011
Sarah Sarah
Marketing / Sales

Product news

Hamilton Robotics and Storage Technologies announces the delivery of a large, integrated system for compound storage and screening to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Program at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. The system, for the NIMH Psychoactive Drug Screening Program, was delivered to the UNC Department of Pharmacology and the Division of Medicinal Chemistry.

This is the first installed system of its kind, providing seamless integration of -20˚C compound library storage with an automated liquid handling platform for screening assays. The system integrates a Hamilton ASM sample management system with two MICROLAB® STAR liquid handling workstations, one with a 96-channel head and the other with 384 channels, using the Hamilton Rack Runner robot for tube transfer. The new system can store up to 100,000 compounds in 0.5 ml screw cap microtubes. Hamilton delivered the system within three months of the order, and a factory acceptance was successfully completed immediately prior to delivery.

The NIMH program at UNC is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and provides screening services to academic investigators, focusing on central nervous system receptors. Bryan L. Roth, M.D., Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, is the principal investigator for the program, which screens novel compounds for pharmacological and functional activity/selectivity at cloned human CNS receptors, channels and transporters.

“Many investigators send us their compounds for screening, often one or two at a time,” explained Jon Evans, M.S., M.B.A., project manager at UNC. “It’s especially important to us that the Hamilton system can locate and pick individual vials or tubes and deliver them to the liquid handler for the automated assays.

“This new integrated system will significantly increase the throughput, capacity and accuracy of our lab,” continued Evans. “It will allow us to do different kinds of assays and will provide complete chain of custody documentation.”

“The NIMH-funded screening center at UNC will be able to reduce assay time requirements by as much as 75 percent and to run assays unattended,” commented Matt Hamilton, vice president for Hamilton Storage Technologies. “This installation is a perfect example of how we can bring our liquid handling workstations and automated storage systems together and integrate them seamlessly.”

The NIMH Psychoactive Drug Screening Program at UNC has previously discovered the mechanism of action of the hallucinogen Salvia divinorum as well as how the diet drug fenfluramine induces valvular heart disease.

Links

HamiltonCompany website

Tags

Combinatorial ChemistryCombinatorial chemistry, also known as combichem, is a technique used in drug discovery to create libraries of structurally related compounds. A library is generated by synthesis with a chemical reactor system or by computer-based modeling of compound combinations. When undertaking combinatorial chemistry consider reagents, buffers, resins and standards.High-Throughput ScreeningHigh-throughput screening (HTS) is an automated drug discovery technique for identification of active compounds against a compound library. Use HTS readers and integrated assay preparation / analysis workstations to screen your compounds. Identify active compounds against various HTS libraries, including membranes, proteins and peptides and HTS cell lines. Find the best high-throughput screening products in our peer-reviewed product directory: compare products, check customer reviews and receive pricing direct from manufacturers.Medicinal ChemistryMedicinal chemistry is a broad discipline encompassing the design, identification, synthesis and development of chemicals in drug discovery. It includes a number of techniques covering structural biology, synthetic chemistry and molecular biology. Technologies used in medicinal chemistry include ADME, lab-on-a-chip, high content screening and assay assembly.High-Content ScreeningHigh-content screening (HCS), also known as high-content analysis (HCA), is a high-throughput technique used in drug discovery to identify substances that alter the phenotype of cells. HCS uses fluorescent microscopic imaging and automated image analysis to investigate cellular events such as apoptosis, cell viability, GPCR activation, oxide production, neurite outgrowth, and cell signaling. Find the best fluorescent labeling reagents, cellular assays, and high-content imaging systems in our peer-reviewed product directory: compare products, check customer reviews and receive pricing direct from manufacturers.Robotic InstrumentsRobotic instruments can be used for high-throughput automation of many lab processes. Such processes use instruments for assays like cell based assays and ELISA, for sample preparation like shakers, centrifuges and incubators, and for analysis such as sequencing and western blot analyzers. Useful features of robotic instruments include speed, reproducibility, barcode readers, software and automation.Robotic WorkstationsRobotic workstations are automated platforms enabling the user to perform high-throughput, multi-application processes, from sample preparation tasks such as PCR set-up, DNA purification and NGS library preparation, to integrated sample prep and analysis workstations. Automation makes processes consistent, fast, precise and fully walk-away. Find the best robotic workstations in our peer-reviewed product directory: compare products, check customer reviews and receive pricing direct from manufacturers.Automated Liquid HandlingAutomated liquid handling equipment is used to mix, dilute and dispense allotted volumes of liquid into microplates and other vessels automatically. The robotic, liquid handling arms can dispense from single channel to 3456 multichannel as well as operate nanoliter dispensing, enabling high throughput of samples. Find the best automated liquid handlers in our peer-reviewed product directory: compare products, check customer reviews and receive pricing direct from manufacturers.

Related articles