Liquid handling automation for PCR setup

摘要

The explosion in the use of molecular biology techniques in both the pharmaceutical and life science research areas has resulted in an increased need to automate the most common liquid handling tasks of the molecular biology laboratory. The MultiPROBE~R II robotic liquid handling system (Packard Instrument Co., Meriden, CT) has application packages that address the specific requirements of molecular biology protocols. This paper describes the use of the benchtop system for the preparation of the reagents and samples used in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR, HoffmannLaRoche, Nutley, NJ) amplification protocol directly in a PTC-200 DNA Engine with a Remote Alpha Dock System (96-well or 384-well block) and motorized lid thermal cycler (MJ Research, Watertown, MA) mounted on the MultiPROBE II deck.