QPix® HT High-Throughput Microbial Colony Picking System

The QPix® HT High-Throughput Microbial Colony Picking System is a fully automated, industrial-scale robotic workcell engineered to provide the highest level of flexibility, throughput, and walkaway time within the QPix portfolio. Designed to handle large-scale workflows and library management, it offers advanced modular integration with robotics to eliminate repetitive, time-consuming tasks. The system enables robust, automated screening and selective transfer of microbial colonies with continuous, clear record tracking across complex multi-format experiments.

Target Applications

• High-Throughput Transformation & Library Management: Automates large-scale genetic library management, pooled library setups, and high-volume clone selection post-transformation.

• Industrial Microbial Strain Engineering: Enables rapid identification, screening, and phenotypic tracking of vast microorganism variant libraries to isolate top-producing production strains.

• Antibody Discovery & Phage Screening: Accelerates antigen-antibody screening cycles by expanding the volume of variant screening arrays to increase the probability of capturing high-affinity binders.

• Molecular Cloning at Scale: Standardizes the iterative process of transforming, plating, streaking, and tracking to support continuous operation in high-volume sequencing facilities and biotech platforms.

• Synthetic Biology & Biofuels Development: Integrates seamlessly into design-build-test-learn bioeconomy engineering pipelines that rely on high-capacity automated biofoundry workflows.

Key Capabilities & System Advantages

• Industrial Scale Automation: Configured as a fully modular system ready for integration with third-party robotics and liquid-handling automation platforms to maximize laboratory efficiency and continuous performance.

• Massive Screening Capacity: Screens up to 30,000 colonies per day, delivering high-throughput execution designed for research institutes, pharmaceutical companies, and automated sequencing hubs.

• Flexible Bed Setup: Supports multiple configurations of source and destination plate formats simultaneously, allowing complex replication, rearraying, and library arrays across a broad laboratory workspace.

• Automated Labware Handling: Features automated plate de-lidding mechanisms to automatically manage contamination controls and preserve environmental sterility during walkaway runs.

• Acoustic Agar Sensing Height Technology: Incorporates integrated acoustic sensor systems that map agar height variations across source trays, permitting high-precision robotics to execute gentle, single-colony pick-ups without disrupting the growth media.

• Comprehensive Sample Traceability: Utilizes an integrated barcode reader that scans and links source plates to target plates, securing data tracking, layout histories, and error-free experimental logs.

• Advanced Multi-Modal Imaging Mode: Leverages analytical imaging algorithms to screen, identify, and select individual clones objectively based on white light and selectable multi-channel fluorescence criteria.

• Interchangeable Picking Heads: Accommodates interchangeable, organism-specific picking heads to process diverse target populations, including E. coli, phage, and yeast on a single platform.

• Rigorous Thermal Sterilization Control: Integrates dedicated multi-stage pin wash baths with a proprietary halogen heat sterilization station to eliminate cross-contamination among picking pins.