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Credit: John Correa
Researchers say they’ve developed a simple system that can help scientists perform complex pipetting protocols efficiently and accurately.
The system, called iPipet, allows users to track the transfer of samples and reagents by illuminating well plates on a computer tablet.
In tests, iPipet proved more efficient than a liquid-handling robot.
The researchers have made information on iPipet available online so scientists can use the system in their own labs.
The team also described iPipet in a letter to Nature Methods.
They noted that experiments frequently rely on high-throughput methods that combine large numbers of samples with large-scale, complex pipetting designs. And pipetting errors can lead to experimental failure.
Although liquid-handling robots would seem to be a logical choice for such work, they are also extremely expensive, difficult to program, and require trained personnel. Moreover, they can be plagued by technical snafus, ranging from bent or clogged tips to an inability to capture liquids lying close to the bottoms of individual wells.
“We needed an alternative to costly robots that would allow us to execute complex pipetting protocols,” said Yaniv Erlich, PhD, of the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
So Dr Erlich and his colleagues developed iPipet. The system illuminates individual wells of standard 96- or 384-well plates placed on top of a tablet screen, guiding users through the transfer of samples or reagents from source to destination plates according to specific designs.
Users create their own protocols in Microsoft Excel files in comma-separated format and upload them to the iPipet website, which generates a downloadable link for execution on a tablet computer. Included on the iPipet site are a variety of demos and an instructional video.
In a test of the tool against a liquid-handling robot, iPipet enabled nearly 3000 fixed-volume pipetting steps in approximately 7 hours. After significant time spent on calibration, the robot accomplished only half that number of steps in the same allotted time.
To date, one of the only challenges lab users have encountered is keeping well plates in a fixed position on the tablet screen. For that, Dr Erlich’s team provides a solution: a 3D printed plastic adaptor that users can create with a file accessible via the iPipet website.
“The entire iPipet system is open source,” Dr Erlich said. “We want to maximize the benefit for the community and allow them to further develop this new man-machine interface for biological experiments.” 
Credit: John Correa
Researchers say they’ve developed a simple system that can help scientists perform complex pipetting protocols efficiently and accurately.
The system, called iPipet, allows users to track the transfer of samples and reagents by illuminating well plates on a computer tablet.
In tests, iPipet proved more efficient than a liquid-handling robot.
The researchers have made information on iPipet available online so scientists can use the system in their own labs.
The team also described iPipet in a letter to Nature Methods.
They noted that experiments frequently rely on high-throughput methods that combine large numbers of samples with large-scale, complex pipetting designs. And pipetting errors can lead to experimental failure.
Although liquid-handling robots would seem to be a logical choice for such work, they are also extremely expensive, difficult to program, and require trained personnel. Moreover, they can be plagued by technical snafus, ranging from bent or clogged tips to an inability to capture liquids lying close to the bottoms of individual wells.
“We needed an alternative to costly robots that would allow us to execute complex pipetting protocols,” said Yaniv Erlich, PhD, of the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
So Dr Erlich and his colleagues developed iPipet. The system illuminates individual wells of standard 96- or 384-well plates placed on top of a tablet screen, guiding users through the transfer of samples or reagents from source to destination plates according to specific designs.
Users create their own protocols in Microsoft Excel files in comma-separated format and upload them to the iPipet website, which generates a downloadable link for execution on a tablet computer. Included on the iPipet site are a variety of demos and an instructional video.
In a test of the tool against a liquid-handling robot, iPipet enabled nearly 3000 fixed-volume pipetting steps in approximately 7 hours. After significant time spent on calibration, the robot accomplished only half that number of steps in the same allotted time.
To date, one of the only challenges lab users have encountered is keeping well plates in a fixed position on the tablet screen. For that, Dr Erlich’s team provides a solution: a 3D printed plastic adaptor that users can create with a file accessible via the iPipet website.
“The entire iPipet system is open source,” Dr Erlich said. “We want to maximize the benefit for the community and allow them to further develop this new man-machine interface for biological experiments.”
Credit: John Correa
Researchers say they’ve developed a simple system that can help scientists perform complex pipetting protocols efficiently and accurately.
The system, called iPipet, allows users to track the transfer of samples and reagents by illuminating well plates on a computer tablet.
In tests, iPipet proved more efficient than a liquid-handling robot.
The researchers have made information on iPipet available online so scientists can use the system in their own labs.
The team also described iPipet in a letter to Nature Methods.
They noted that experiments frequently rely on high-throughput methods that combine large numbers of samples with large-scale, complex pipetting designs. And pipetting errors can lead to experimental failure.
Although liquid-handling robots would seem to be a logical choice for such work, they are also extremely expensive, difficult to program, and require trained personnel. Moreover, they can be plagued by technical snafus, ranging from bent or clogged tips to an inability to capture liquids lying close to the bottoms of individual wells.
“We needed an alternative to costly robots that would allow us to execute complex pipetting protocols,” said Yaniv Erlich, PhD, of the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
So Dr Erlich and his colleagues developed iPipet. The system illuminates individual wells of standard 96- or 384-well plates placed on top of a tablet screen, guiding users through the transfer of samples or reagents from source to destination plates according to specific designs.
Users create their own protocols in Microsoft Excel files in comma-separated format and upload them to the iPipet website, which generates a downloadable link for execution on a tablet computer. Included on the iPipet site are a variety of demos and an instructional video.
In a test of the tool against a liquid-handling robot, iPipet enabled nearly 3000 fixed-volume pipetting steps in approximately 7 hours. After significant time spent on calibration, the robot accomplished only half that number of steps in the same allotted time.
To date, one of the only challenges lab users have encountered is keeping well plates in a fixed position on the tablet screen. For that, Dr Erlich’s team provides a solution: a 3D printed plastic adaptor that users can create with a file accessible via the iPipet website.
“The entire iPipet system is open source,” Dr Erlich said. “We want to maximize the benefit for the community and allow them to further develop this new man-machine interface for biological experiments.”