Automated stem cell culture and screening
?California-based provider of automation solutions Velocity 11 has installed a novel high throughput automated stem cell culture & screening platform at I-STEM in Evry, France.
I-STEM, a new organisation formed by INSERM, the French national institute of health, with the French muscular dystrophy association (AFM), aims to validate the feasibility of using human embryonic stem cells for therapeutics, both through cell therapy and in drug discovery. One goal of I-STEM is to establish a department of High Throughput Screening to speed up the process of discovery of new treatments against monogenic diseases using human embryonic stem cells.
With its new automation systems, I-STEM aims to undertake two to five high throughput screenings a year on embryonic stem cells, and thus increase significantly the number of potentially therapeutic molecules against its target diseases.
Velocity11 was selected to supply a flexible robotic platform to automate the stem cell culturing and screening processes. The system will mark the first time that stem cell culture and screening has been automated to this level of complexity in a 96-well microplate format and at this level of throughput.
Using a design based upon the BioCel 1800 Automation System (shown above), the I-STEM platform will use Velocity11's VWorks Automation Control software, an event-driven controller, to manage protocols, and execute process runs. Liquid handling will be carried out by two VPrep pipetting systems. The first VPrep system will use a 96LT pipetting head (volume range 2-200µl) and be dedicated to stem cell culturing. The second VPrep system will employ a 96 ST head (volume range 0.5-30µl) for compound management.
The I-STEM platform will store and dispense microplates and tip racks using a compact VStack automated plate stacker. A Velocity11 Lid Hotel will handle microplate lids while a VCode bar code label print and apply station will be used for plate tracking. A PlateLoc thermal plate sealer has been integrated into the I-STEM platform to allow the sealing of compound plates after each run.
A custom air filtration system was designed by Velocity11 to achieve I-STEM's stringent requirements for operational sterility. To avoid any risk of contamination, the BioCel 1800 automation system was built as a class 100 cleanroom. ULPA filters were chosen to remove contaminants and the air pressure inside the system was kept higher than the external lab to prevent unfiltered air from entering the chamber. Unidirectional airflow over the samples was also ensured by the use of a sub-table plenum design.