Discngine Qualification - A Web Application To Track Liquid Handling Precision and Accuracy
Track Liquid Handling Precision and Accuracy
AdobeStock_2970413 - Copie.jpeg

Concepts of the application

Concepts of Discngine Qualification

The 3 key concepts of Discngine Qualification

Discngine Qualification is a software solution aiming to support scientists with the qualification of their Automated Liquid Handling System (ALHS). It offers an efficient way to evaluate and track the accuracy of robotic processes along the lifespan of the pipetting platforms by combining the analyses of gravimetry and colorimetry data.

Before using the application, there are 3 key concepts that need to be defined: a platform process, a qualification, and an analysis.

A Platform process is the combination of a platform, a pipetting head, and a process:

  • Platform: the robotic platform you are using and you want to qualify

  • Pipetting head: the pipetting head installed on the platform

  • Process: the operations you want to qualify (eg. 384-well plate Replications, 96 to 384-well plate Reformating etc.)

A Qualification, is the combination of a platform process, a volume distribution, and materials information:

  • Platform process

  • Volume distribution: The solvent distribution details such as the layout of test liquid within the plates (Figure 3), the target volumes layout (Figure 4) and the channel layout (Figure 5).

  • Qualification materials : The number of plates used for the ALHS qualification process, the solvent (eg. H20, DMSO etc.), the reagent, plate reader name…

An Analysis is the combination of a gravimetry and/or a colorimetry data analysis:

  • Gravimetry: the analysis of data coming from a scale.

  • Colorimetry: the analysis of data coming from an absorbance or fluorescence reader.

Figure 1: The 3 key concepts of Discngine Qualification

Figure 2: Concepts of the application in an example of a 96-well plate dispensing process using gravimetry and colorimetry data coming from a CyBio® Moduloplate™ balance and a BioTek ELx800™ absorbance reader

Figure 3: The Control Layout defines the layout of test liquid within a given plate. In the above example, the last six columns of the virtual plate are empty whereas all the others are filled with liquid solution.

Figure 3: The Control Layout defines the layout of test liquid within a given plate. In the above example, the last six columns of the virtual plate are empty whereas all the others are filled with liquid solution.

Figure 4: The Volume Layout defines the layout of each target volume within a given plate. In the above example, the virtual plate has been divided into 4 distinct sections based on the targeted volumes of 1μL, 2μL, 5μL, and 7μL.Note: If the associa…

Figure 4: The Volume Layout defines the layout of each target volume within a given plate. In the above example, the virtual plate has been divided into 4 distinct sections based on the targeted volumes of 1μL, 2μL, 5μL, and 7μL.

Note: If the associated control layout is similar to the one shown in Figure 3, the last six columns will not be considered for the analysis statistics.

Figure 5: The Channel Layout defines a mapping of the channels dispensing behavior within a given plate. This allows calculation of accuracy and precision statistics for each channel. The above example illustrates the channel layout of a 12- channel…

Figure 5: The Channel Layout defines a mapping of the channels dispensing behavior within a given plate. This allows calculation of accuracy and precision statistics for each channel. The above example illustrates the channel layout of a 12- channel pipetting head.

 

These 3 concepts are key to understanding and facilitating the use of the software. Defining the process you want to evaluate is important and will save a lot of time when you perform an analysis.

The workflow to perform a new analysis is composed of 5 steps: