Show sidebar
Show 9 12 18 24

QPix® XE Compact Automated Colony Picker

MOLECULAR DEVICES

The QPix® XE system is a compact, automated solution designed for efficient microbial colony picking, tailored specifically for laboratories with limited space or targeted application requirements. Engineered to replace highly subjective and error-prone manual picking workflows with precision automation, it serves as an ideal entry-level system within the QPix portfolio. The system delivers reliable screening and selection capabilities while maintaining a minimal laboratory benchtop presence.

Target Applications

  • Standard Molecular Cloning & Plasmid Preparation: Replaces repetitive manual picking with consistent automation, minimizing human error and standardizing workflows for smaller research setups.

  • Academic & Routine Microorganism Selection: Provides core automated colony recovery for academic labs and specialized research facilities looking to transition away from manual colony management.

  • Targeted Library Management: Enables accurate selection and transfer of target clones from mixed cultures into standard destination formats for downstream evaluation.

Key Capabilities & System Advantages

  • Space-Saving Benchtop Design: Features a minimal and highly compact physical footprint, making it perfectly suited for smaller laboratories or facilities where workspace optimization is critical.

  • Accurate Colony Selection: Equipped with advanced imaging technology to ensure objective and precise picking, eliminating the human bias and variation associated with manual selection.

  • User-Friendly Operation: Simplifies the entire automated colony picking process through an intuitive and easy-to-use software interface, facilitating fast setup and routine walkaway operation.

QPix® HT High-Throughput Microbial Colony Picking System

MOLECULAR DEVICES

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.

QPix® 420 Microbial Colony Picker

MOLECULAR DEVICES

The QPix® 420 Microbial Colony Picker is a robust, high-throughput automated system designed to replace manual workflows and scale microbial screening with greater precision and walkaway time. As a flexible, upgradeable workhorse within the QPix portfolio, it supports advanced multi-modal imaging, diverse screening applications, and seamless future integration into automated robotic workflows. The system significantly reduces laboratory labor and time while tracking comprehensive data from start to finish to ensure complete reproducibility.

Target Applications

  • Protein Engineering & Mutation Screening: Accelerates the throughput of screened variants by allowing users to navigate richer genetic libraries and rapidly select mutants with desired traits.

  • Molecular Cloning & Plasmid Production: Automates the laborious and repetitive processes of cell spreading, plating, streaking, and colony recovery to eliminate human error and speed up downstream analysis.

  • Microbial Strain Engineering: Identifies and selects high-producing engineered microorganisms from large libraries using customizable phenotypic selection parameters.

  • Antibody Discovery & Phage Display: Increases the screening throughput of antigen-antibody interactions to optimize the identification of high-affinity binders.

  • Gene Editing (CRISPR/Cas9): Enables large-scale library management, pooled library picking, and hit picking into high-throughput microtiter plate screening workflows.

Key Capabilities & System Advantages

  • High-Throughput Automation & Walkaway Time: Screens and picks up to 3,000 colonies per hour with greater than 95% picking accuracy. The system increases laboratory autonomy by handling up to 12 standard 96-well destination plates before requiring manual intervention.

  • Multi-Modal Imaging guided Selection: Supports advanced white light trans-illumination and optional multi-channel epifluorescence imaging. Five standard wavelengths are available (supporting DAPI/Hoechst, FITC/GFP, Cy3/DS Red, Cy5, and Rhodamine/Texas Red) to automatically image and select clones based on target intensity.

  • Versatile Process Automation: Performs multiple mechanical operations beyond standard colony picking, including liquid-to-liquid plate replication, gridding, rearraying, hit picking, and structural plate compression or expansion across 96- and 384-well formats.

  • Advanced Colony Screening Parameters: Utilizes objective software algorithms to allow precise, automated colony identification and selection based on defined structural traits such as size, proximity, roundness, blue-white screening, and zone of inhibition assays.

  • Integrated Data Tracking & Traceability: Equipped with a built-in barcode reader that automatically scans and links source and destination plates, maintaining a continuous audit trail and clear record of experimental data.

  • Acoustic Agar Height Sensing: Utilizes integrated sensor technology to detect variations in agar surface height resulting from pouring volume differences, adjusting robotic z-axis travel to ensure gentle, accurate colony pick-ups without disrupting the media.

  • Rigorous Cross-Contamination Control: Combines automated UV interior sanitization with multi-stage pin washing static baths and a proprietary halogen heat sterilization station to eliminate microbial carryover between picks.

  • Flexible Deck & Organism-Specific Heads: Supports an adaptable deck layout accommodating 15 cm and 9 cm petri dishes, OmniTrays, and QTrays. Features interchangeable picking heads with organism-specific pins engineered for different targets including E. coli, phage, and yeast.

QPix® FLEX™ Microbial Colony Picking System

MOLECULAR DEVICES

The QPix FLEX™ Microbial Colony Picking System is an integrated, automated benchtop workcell engineered to streamline and standardize the entire microbial cell line development workflow. Purpose-built to eliminate manual variability, fragmentation, and contamination risks, the system consolidates automated agar plating, streaking, colony picking, and liquid handling into a single, space-saving instrument. It achieves a documented baseline of over 95% picking efficiency, 99% picking accuracy, and 0% cross-contamination in validated screening protocols.

Target Applications

  • Microbiome Research & Anaerobic Microbiology: Optimized for fastidious or rare anaerobic microbial communities requiring sterile technique, precise colony isolation, and direct compatibility within standard hypoxic/anaerobic chambers.

  • Synthetic Biology & Plasmid Production: High-throughput automated colony recovery and hit picking post-transformation to accelerate discovery, validation, and preparation cycles.

  • Protein & Enzyme Engineering: Automated library screening of variants for downstream parallel analysis, correlating visible phenotype traits with early expression output.

  • Microbial Strain Engineering: Rapid selection and differentiation of top-producing strains from large mutagenic libraries based on subtle phenotypic criteria such as size, shape, proximity, and color.

  • Food Safety & Environmental QC: Automated pathogen screening and isolation (e.g., E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria) using selective media grouping to shorten turnaround times.

  • Natural Product & Pigment Discovery: Phenotype-driven isolation of target strains through automated colorimetric identification of metabolic pigments, allowing researchers to group and rank unique colonies early in the workflow.

Key Capabilities & System Advantages

  • Hypoxic and Anaerobic Chamber Integration: Sized and structurally configured with a compact footprint to operate natively inside standard low-oxygen and anaerobic environments where traditional automation systems fail to function.

  • Phenotype-Based Colony Selection: Equipped with a 20-megapixel CMOS high-resolution color camera and white light trans-illumination system to classify, group, and rank target colonies based on precise color, morphology, size, shape, and proximity criteria.

  • Multi-Function 4-Channel Pipetting Head: Eliminates independent fluid-handling steps by automating complex liquid transfers, media dispensing, glycerol addition, agar plating, and hit picking within the same instrument without needing additional hardware.

  • Swappable Tip System: Allows hardware-free switching between eco-friendly, reusable sterilizable metal picking pins and disposable plastic filter tips (supporting 50 uL, 200 uL, and 1000 uL volumes) to easily tailor operations to specific workflow budgets or sterility controls.

  • Comprehensive Sample Traceability: Features an integrated 2D barcode reader that links and tracks every plate and pick from source to destination, maintaining complete audit trails and data integrity.

  • Precision Mechanical Reliability: Utilizes an ultrasonic agar height sensor to detect pouring volume variations across agar surfaces, automatically modulating robotic movement to guarantee gentle, repeatable colony pick-ups.