Supply of Integrated and Automated PCR Equipment

Aptamer Solutions Ltd (AS) is a Yorkshire based biotechnology company founded in 2012 developing an exciting market for the supply of custom nucleic acid aptamers for use in the life sciences sector. Based at York Science Park, AS custom select aptamers, a relatively new class of synthetic compounds that can be evolved to have strong affinity and specificity to proteins, peptides, cells, viruses and small molecules.

Our existing processes rely on automated PCR amplification and subsequent analysis of the products. As part of the development of our processes, we have shown that sampling at multiple points allows us to maintain quality of our process and steer the process toward a successful outcome. This is a lengthy process but is necessary to ensure that quality is maintained. These processes are no longer able to keep pace with the number of PCR samples necessary to deliver high throughput analysis of control samples. We therefore need to supplement our existing equipment with real-time automated PCR systems to allow simultaneous quantification of samples and comparison between samples at these various points in our process. To achieve this we are intending to integrate a real-time / qPCR machine with our existing liquid handling robotics (Beckman Coulter, Biomek FX) to allow fully automated sample preparation, processing and analysis. This process will involve preparing samples and PCR reagents on our existing liquid handling system, robotically transferring the plate to an automated plate sealer and then moving the sealed plate to an integrated real-time / qPCR machine. Once processing of the first sample plate is completed, the system will be required to move the plate of amplified material to allow processing of subsequent plates in an automated fashion. Integration of all components is therefore essential to the application process and a 'stand-alone' system is not sufficient.