Hi everyone! Can you help me with progrmming a colomn\row serial delution using the CO-RE 96?
We tried to follow the manual with example CO-RE HEAD 384, but using this example we can’t create the method.
Thank you 
What sort of issues are you running into?
In general I don’t undedstand how to do it. Can you help with it?
I guess in general I break it down into loops and your standard mix before mix after and be careful not to transport too much air.
→ If you’re talking about scripting in general, try to break down the process into repeatable steps; so for instance Mix@Source>Aspirate>Dispense>Mix@Dest, rinse repeat. As long as you can loop and iterate along that loop to assign source and destinations in a modular way, you can create something worthy of copy/paste into future methods.
A really low level example would be something like
loop i where i = 1 to 11
Mix at column i
aspirate at column i
dispense at column i+1
mix at column i+1
Next i
With that you’ve broken down a 12-step serial dilution into 6 lines and all you need to do is change volumes to your need. It’s better practice to get new tips every time if you’re not using super low volumes, so adapt the script as needed.
→ If it’s technique issues, I’d recommend referring to section 6.3 of Hamilton’s Liquid Handling Reference Guide that’s linked around this forum frequently (Liquid handling guide). Besides that, try to mimic your manual pipetting steps and avoid bubbles/volume loss. Every experiment has unique goals and constraints so be sure to define goals and understand practically what your finish line is - equivalent or better - which can apply to many things from yield to CV to time savings.
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Okay then, how to pick up one row or column if I don’t have tip support for CO-RE 96? I mean this one ADAPTER FOR TIP_CAR_480
Is it possible to create sequence with one row or column? Will it work in this way?
So there are different ways to pick up a single column or row with the 96MPH, which I’ll refer to offset pickup.
Tip adapter - as you found, this is a tool that elevates the tip rack above the typical position. In my experience, this item is better used for “build-a-box” functionality where the nest starts empty and you program in steps to fill it with tips in a pattern or sequence you need. For instance, if you have A1-H4 and A5-D5 filled, you can transfer those tips over then tell the 96MPH to pick up tips covering the whole position - boom you have a custom tip mask on your 96mph.
The other way is to use a full rack of tips and to mount tips to the 96mph subtractively, or rather the alignment of the 96MPH and the tip rack is not concentric so only a determined number of tips is picked up. For this, you need a tip rack module that has supports for the tip wafer (see the middle posts in the picture below).
Assuming you have the correct hardware to enable tip pickup, you’d then either build a box and pick up the entire position, or create a submethod to pickup reduced pattern mode pickup in which the 96-head tip pickup state is reduced to a Long string of 96x “0” or “1” for “pickup tip” or “don’t” pickup tips. If this pickup amount is constant - always one column - then your string is just 8x “1”'s followed by 88x “0”'s. You can also designate this via the Channel settings GUI during the single step tip pickup.
Play with these tools, and you should have a good idea of how to start scripting to the point where you can get a method working, resolve movement issues, then start work on liquid classes and accuracy. Try to just use the pickup command before working on the entire serial dilution. First step is always to try new things and make mistakes - and most importantly learn from the mistakes. You’ll also likely find that how you sort the tip sequences plays into this movement as your string designates pickup based on your tip sequence, so picking up from the left side of the 96MPH (right side of tip wafer), you’d have to start your tip ordering on your pickup position in reverse: tip 1 would be A12, tip 9 would be A11…
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