Mosquito packs a 'hit-picking' sting

MipTec 2005 in Basel, Switzerland, will host the launch of TTP LabTech's mosquito X1, a nanolitre 'hit-picking' version of the highly successful mosquito liquid handling system.

The device offers precision sampling of individual wells, enabling researchers to quickly select 'hits' from primary screening plates and transfer them directly to the next screening stage without further dilution, thus making assay miniaturisation a reality.

With disposable pipette tips, mosquito X1 guarantees zero cross-contamination, while its unique positive displacement pipetting technology allows it to sample low volumes from any individual well in 48-, 96-, 384- or 1536-well plates. Using its multidispense option it can dispense into multiple wells - or wells within multiple plates - from a single aspiration, thus increasing speed and saving on consumables for sample replicates. The list of samples to be picked can be specified either from the user-friendly software or via a worklist input file, which can be created by third-party tools such as Microsoft Excel.

The device can pipette accurately and reproducibly throughout the 50nl-1.2µl range and can pierce aluminium and PET plate seals with a cycle time of five seconds. It can also integrate with common plate handlers, offering capacity for up to 200 plates and vastly increased walk-away time.