Advances in Automation & Robotics Agenda

Registration

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

Technology Spotlight:
Automated High-throughput DNA/RNA Extraction and Purification Workflows
Jake Grace, Workflow Architect, Chemspeed Technologies UK Ltd

The High-throughput DNA/RNA Extraction and Purification will be outlined, and the benefits and advantages of automation of repetitive, tedious and error prone procedures will be discussed.

To Automate or Not to Automate - An Academic Perspective
Robin Ketteler, Group Leader/Manager, University College London, United Kingdom

What levels of automation are required for large-scale image-based screening? What is sensible? Does full automation limit the possibility to detect novel phenotypes? What are the advantages of some level of manual control compared to full robotic integration?

Technology Spotlight:
Solutions for Today and Innovations for Tomorrow – ‘Festo Inside’
Paul Kendall, Business Development Manager , Festo Limited

Festo provide an insight into their business and focus on the Lab Automation market. This short spotlight will provide an overview of Festo’s capabilities today, their collaborative approach to solutions and instrument development coupled with a view into the future with some highlights from Festo’s product development for the Lab Automation market.

Lunch and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session

The Importance of Miniaturization and Automation for the Crystallization of Biological Macromolecules
Fabrice Gorrec, Crystallization/Automation Scientist, MRC-LMB, United Kingdom

After giving an overview of the bio-macromolecular structure determination process using X-ray crystallography, recent technology developments that enable high-throughput crystallization screening at the MRC-LMB (Cambridge, UK) are going to be presented. 

Challenges in Microbiological Laboratory Automation
Eric Claas, Principal Investigator/Associate Professor, Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands

After 100 years of status quo in diagnostic microbiology, a number of recent developments have revolutionized clinical microbiology. New technologies in combination with automation and robotisation of microbiological processes have made a huge difference in the quality and turn-around-time of diagnostic data resulting in improved patient management.

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

iPS-based Automated Drug Screening: From Human iPS to Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons
Jan Bruder, Postdoc, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Germany

We provide an overview over our methods allowing us to differentiate human neural precursor cells generated from iPS cultures into midbrain dopaminergic neurons in a fully automated fashion. The resulting cell cultures can serve as a scalable disease model for familial Parkinson's disease based on a LRRK2 2019S mutation and allows for screening compounds in a human neural model system.

End of Day One

Going Low Volume – A Nanoliter Dispensing Module for Standard Liquid Handling Robots
Andreas Madjarov, R&D Project Manager, IMTEK University of Freiburg and BioFluidix GmbH, Germany

By integrating the eight channel dispensing module with a footprint of just a standard well plate into existing lab robots their volume range is extended to the nanoliter range. Fully injection molded tips are used for a non-contact droplet ejection.

Technology Spotlight:
Simplied Modular Systems for Automated Colony Picking and Cells
Scott Vanderwoude, Managing Director, Wagner Life Science, LLC

Wagner Life Science LLC is the exclusive distributor of the RapidPick Colony Picking Systems from Hudson Robotics.  Wagner is working with the manufacturer, integrator and customers to bring a modular system to the application of picking samples.  Users can choose the right imaging platform, the right picking platform and the right amount of automated plate handling for their needs and budget.  

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

Stem Cell Culture Automation: Challenges and Benefits
Glyn Stacey, Director/Head, National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, United Kingdom

This presentation will consider the challenges of developing automated culture and banking systems for pluripotent stem cells.  It will also consider possible approaches to such automation and evaluating improvements that may arise from it.   

Automation in Large Scale BioBanking
György Marko-Varga, Head, Lund University, Sweden

Lunch and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session & Close of Conference