We are setting up a 384-well qPCR plate with several (up to 32) different Master Mixes. We have a method that works well and is reasonably fast (filling the Master Mixes one after vertically every other row), but results in a rather unsorted final layout - this makes evaluation after the PCR-run more cumbersome.
An option would be to work horizontally for the mixes, but if then the samples are transferred per mix, this slows down the method.
Is there a way to sort the sequences, ideally favoring speed for the sample transfer, so that samples for different master mixes in the same column are transferred simultaneously. Or are there algorithms to optimize this automatically from a worklist? I was hoping the sequence library would provide this, but it seems to not be the case.
The ML Prep does something like this, but is based on Instinct, as far as I am aware.
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Hi @Florian ,
In terms of sorting sequences for fastest pipetting based on well position, I would suggest using the STAR Channel Tools sub-method library. There is a post here that has a download link and some information on the sort functions and how they’re used. The function works by sorting sequences just before pipetting occurs, focusing on the next X transfers, where X is the number of channels input. It also takes into account channel access restrictions for systems with more than 8 channels.
Thank you,
Dan
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Thank you Dan! This forum is amazing and the Hamilton support team is stellar!
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