This is our first Newsletter of 2012. While we would normally have had several by this time of year, we have instead spent the first quarter of 2012 completely re-vamping our website. We have tried to make it more useful to customers and to those seeking answers to life science automation questions. I hope those of you who browse the new site will agree. In fact, the articles in this Newsletter will bring the reader into the new website, and you can judge for yourself how well we’ve succeeded.

Applications, Not Just Automation

2011 was a great year for Hudson, resulting in the highest sales levels in our history. But more importantly to our customers, and to Hudson’s future, the arrival of 2012 marked a shift in emphasis from promoting generic automated laboratory workcells and individual automation instruments, to providing pre-developed solution workcells that are critical to many fundamental tasks in future life science research.

Our goal is to make it easy for researchers to take that “first step” into automating these applications. This is achieved by providing demonstrated solutions to increasing the performance of their labs in specific types of processes. As well, experienced users of lab automation will find Hudson’s new solutions to be incredibly easy to use and very economical.

Partners in 2012

We have joined with several business partners, bringing their particular areas of expertise into these specialized workcells.

We have joined with Promega Corporation to provide an easy to use, entry level automated solution for their kinase assay kits built around Hudson’s SOLO multi-channel robotic pipettor and new Guided Operation (GO) Wizards for SoftLinx.

Together with BioRad Laboratories, Hudson will be offering an automated, real-time PCR workcell that combines BioRad’s CFX real-time PCR detection system with automated sample prep and fully scheduled operation.

We have developed an automated solution for Bioo Scientific’s NEXTflex “next gen” DNA sequencing sample prep kits. Bioo Scientific has begun co-marketing this solution with Hudson, and we anticipate strong results in 2012 from this effort.

One very popular “solution” workcell has been our RapidPick Colony-Picking Workcell, a collaboration between Hudson and Norgren Systems. It is the fastest and more accurate colony-picking solution available today, and Hudson has placed dozens of these workcells in laboratories around the world.

Hudson has joined with Intellicyt to provide a fully automated sample prep and delivery system for Intellicyt’s HyperCyt flow cytometry auto-sampler and cytometer offering.

Hudson has also tested and demonstrated the accuracy and practicality of using our SOLO robotic pipettor with Diffinity Genomics’ one-step PCR cleanup tip technology, and will soon be installing this at a key customer site on the East Coast.

Tradition Lives On

“While our emphasis in outreach will be on pre-developed applications, Hudson still pursues our traditional business of providing lab automation solutions of nearly every scope. This range extends from simple single-instrument workcells to large, custom-designed automated systems. And, we also offer individual automation instruments, like our flagship PlateCrane or our SOLO Robotic Pipettor. Even if we don’t have the precise instrument or solution that would meet your immediate need, browsing Hudson’s website can provide you with ideas and insights into increasing the efficiency of your research in ways you may not have considered. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at one of the many shows we’ll be attending in 2012.”

Phil Farrelly, President Hudson Robotics.

Announcing the New RapidFlow; Flow Cytometry Automation from Hudson Robotics

Hudson Robotics has created new work cell solutions to automate the critical sample handling tasks required for high throughput flow cytometry. The fully integrated RapidFlow automated systems are designed to optimize workflow in the cytometry lab.

Cytometry has long been considered the gold standard for High Content cell analysis. For more than 30 years, Cytometry has evolved into several different technologies: automated microcopy, High Content imaging system, and primarily Flow Cytometry. The evolution of new fluorochromes, antibodies, lasers, and instrumentation has enabled Cytometry as a High Content Screening tool. Currently, all imaging systems and Flow Cytometers are capable of on-board sample loading, though this is limited to one microplate at a time. Manual plate loading is still required, creating a bottleneck for many labs seeking to process multiple plates.

Sample preparation for cell analysis is equally cumbersome and time consuming. Cell processing, dispensing of cells into plates and the staining of those cells, requires a great deal of technician labor and time. All preparation steps, including cell staining, cell washing, cell dispensing, and reagent dispensing, are currently performed manually in most labs. Hudson’s RapidFlow workcell allows researchers to automate these preparation steps and couple them to fully automated cytometer operation.

For sample preparation, the RapidFlow employs Hudson’s SOLO Robotic Pipettor. The SOLO provides a new level of precision cell and reagent dispensing into microplates. The Micro10x provides bulk dispensing of buffers and fixation reagents across the entire plate. Hudson’s expertise in integration allows the end user to incorporate third-party incubators, centrifuges, and other devices into the work cell process through SoftLinx scheduling software.

Plate handling to the Flow or Imaging Cytometry is controlled by the PlateCrane EX. Plates can be stored in either plate stacks, a plate hotel, or an environmentally controlled incubator, before delivery to the Cytometer. Within the RapidFlow workcell, Hudson can also integrate a barcode reader, plate shaker, and other accessories necessary for an individual user’s cytometry workflow. All this is controlled by SoftLinx software.

Hudson Robotics can provide many levels of automation for the cytometry lab and integrate with all existing Flow and Imaging Cytometry platforms through the power of SoftLinx software.

Hudson’s SOLO Pipettor Ideal for Tube-to-Plate Transfers

The SOLO is the ideal robotic pipettor for several tube to microplate applications including setting up Real Time PCR reactions. The SOLO provides a timesaving and process-improving option to manual pipetting when working with less than 96 samples up to 4 plates per run.

Typically setting up a large liquid handling instrument for just one or two plates is time consuming and expensive. Manual pipetting is also time consuming and can lead to mistakes. The SOLO makes the process easy with a low cost, easy to use solution.

Tubes are racked (typically 24 to a rack) and put on the deck of the SOLO or if the tubes are tall, they are placed in one of the off-deck positions. The SOLO will select 1 tip, then transfer the samples as defined in SOLOSoft operating software, to a microplate. Tip touch, mixing and all advanced features are available with a mouse click.

SOLOSoft sets up the pipetting steps while SoftLinx, our powerful scheduling software, allows the user to create full run programs with multiple pipetting steps, error handling and email notification.

The SOLO solution allows for work lists to be referenced in the software. DNA samples can be brought to the desired concentration easily and without repetitive data entry. The system is flexible to accommodate over 200 third-party instruments as part of an automated work cell. When concentrations need to be determined, many spectrophotometers fit easily in the work envelope of the SOLO, facilitating rapid plate reads for use in normalization protocols.

Many RTPCR applications require a serial dilution and the SOLO is specially suited for this task. Our new GO Wizards guide the operator cleanly through setting up a serial dilution and the processing of a plate. Maintaining your standards patterns and dilution factors are completed in just a few mouse clicks. See a video of serial dilution with the SOLO at: http://youtu.be/g4t1mblysoE

Adding master mix or other reagents from tubes, troughs or microplates is quick and efficient. Although the multi tip SOLO has fixed positions, the software and system is flexible to run any number of tips as needed. One client brought a specialized bacterial media trough that allowed access for only 3 pipette tips. Running the multi channel SOLO in 3 tip mode for this transfer and switching back to 12 tip mode for the remainder of the protocol made for a quick and simple integration.

The ease of use and unmatched flexibility make tube to microplate applications another perfect fit for the Hudson SOLO Automated Pipettor. Do you have a pipetting challenge and a down to earth budget? If so we would love to hear from you. Find out more at http://www.hudsonrobotics.com/products/liquid-handling/solo/

New Guided Operation (GO) Wizards Provide an Easy-to-Use Approach for Simplifying Benchtop Lab Automation

The implementation of laboratory automation can be a daunting task. Because of this, many laboratory scientists either continue to use manual instruments, learn the bare minimum about using automated instruments, or pay experts to do it for them.

However, there are many situations in which scientists need to run protocols that are outside their area of expertise, but provide important supporting data. A good example would be various ADME-Tox profiling assays, which help determine the clinical potential of compounds with otherwise attractive properties. Hudson has found a way to make this necessary task easy.

Hudson recently introduced the SOLO Wizard, the first member of our new Guided Operation (GO) technology in which users are shown a series of step-by-step directions on running a specific protocol on Hudson’s SOLO Robotic Pipettor. Upon completion, the Wizard automatically generates the required method files for the SOLO and the assay is run; the user never has to program the SOLO. Several options are available to the user, such as the scale of the assay or the number of samples to be tested.

Our first Wizards, introduced at the recent SBS show in San Diego, support a number of cellular and biochemical assays available from Promega. After a user completes the Wizard, all of the microplates, reservoirs and disposable tips will be in their correct position, as well as all samples and reagents.

Each protocol contains a series of six screens:

1. Introduction – Provides a summary of the protocol and the current step
2. Plates – Indicates which plates to use and where to put them
3. Reagents – Indicates where to put each chemical that applies to every well
4. Samples – Where to put variable samples, controls and blanks
5. SOLO – Reminds the user to verify the readiness of the pipettor
6. Summary – Provides a review of all options selected by the user

A Reagent screen from the ApoTox-Glo Multiplex Assay Wizard

The Wizard is implemented in Hudson’s SoftLinx lab automation control software as a “plug-in”, written in VBA. It is used in the same way SoftLinx’s instrument interface plug-ins are used. The Wizard is usually “dropped” into a SoftLinx Protocol as its first step. Upon completion, the Wizard creates the appropriate SOLOSoft file that is run by a SOLO’s “Run” method step later in the protocol.

Contact us and we’ll show you how to create a Wizard to support the protocols you run in your laboratory. http://www.hudsonrobotics.com/contact-us/

Total system integration is the key. The RapidPick ACIS brings together multiple instruments in a cost effective and scalable manner. As a result, we have been able to automate several time-consuming steps that have typically been performed manually or off-line due to cost, complexity and other considerations. The RapidPick ACIS allows the user to create a streamlined process for all the instruments to work together, reducing the time required for the process.

How the process works.

The process begins with dispensing bacteria into a barcoded NUNC Omnitray containing agar and an antibiotic. Glass beads are added, the plate ‘swirled’ and the beads are decanted. The cover is then put on the NUNC Omnitray and stacked. Once all the plates are finished they are placed in the stacker. The software starts the first step in the method by bringing the plates to the barcode reader, recording the plate ID, then bringing the lidded plate to the landing station of the orbital shaking incubator located under the deck of the RapidPick System. The process continues until all plates are loaded into the incubator. The incubator maintains temperature and environment for approximately 16 hours. At a designated time before the incubation time ends, an alert is sent to the user to get ready for the next steps.

The user loads a bottle of media and a wash solution to the Micro10x™ and loads the destination plates, either 96 deep well blocks, 96 well plates or 384 well plates. The system begins to operate just before the plates are ready to leave the incubator. The PlateCrane EX™ brings a plate from the stack to the Micro10x. The lid is removed and put into a holding nest; the plate is filled with media and then delivered to the destination side of the colony picker. The colony plates exit the incubator and The PlateCrane transports them to the source side of the RapidPick™ colony picker. The lid is removed and placed into a holding nest. The systems reads and records the barcodes for both source and destination plates. The most suitable colonies are then selected with user-defined criteria for shape, size, contrast and closeness to nearby colonies. Selected colonies are picked and transferred to the destination plate. Sterilization is done with direct heat to the tungsten pins.

A unique feature of the RapidPick ACIS is the inclusion of an integrated Micro10X dispenser with auto-prime and auto-rinse features. The Micro10x will automatically fill the plates with fresh media on the fly immediately before inoculation, saving you valuable time. This not only limits the potential for contamination, but also automates the tedious and time-consuming process of manually pre-filling the plates. The auto-prime feature keeps the Micro10x primed and ready during long runs and the auto-rinse feature eliminates the problem of clogged tips and tubing if the unit isn’t rinsed after a run. High throughput runs are possible because the attached PlateCrane EX robotic arm with stacks is able to store and manage multiple microplates in a single run.

The robotic arm retrieves the colony plates from the incubator one at a time. Each time it removes a colony plate from the incubator, it also removes an empty growth plate from a stack and fills it with fresh media, preparing it to receive a colony that has been selected for inoculation.

The integrated process continues.

After inoculation, SoftLinx™ scheduling software executes the method in reverse order, having the PlateCrane return the colony plate to the stack and deliver the inoculated plate into the incubator. The orbital shaking starts with the first plate entering the incubator. The shaking is paused, only then the automated system is moving a plate within the incubator.

After the growth plates have been in the incubator overnight, they are either removed by the robotic arm and transferred to liquid handling equipment for assay and analysis or manually removed. Because the PlateCrane EX robotic arm is controlled by SoftLinx software, which easily integrates with over 200 different instruments from a variety of manufacturers, advanced automation of the next steps in the assay is easily accomplished.

Thoroughly tested and proven.

The fully automated RapidPick ACIS, an extension of our full line of RapidPick colony-picking workcells, is currently in use by a leading Massachusetts-based cancer research institute, where it is working precisely as designed. They are very satisfied with the system because it has reduced the turnaround time from initial sample and colony plate preparation to isolation and growth of pure, non-mutated bacteria. Because all the components of the system are compatible and fully integrated, laboratory personnel no longer need to manually fill growth plates with fresh media, a tedious and time-consuming activity. Nor do they need to manually load and unload the orbital shaking incubator.

The capability of the RapidPick ACIS can be enhanced even further through the use of accessories such as an automated RSH-4000 adhesive sealer, which is ideal for applying gas permeable seals to any SBS footprint microplate regardless of well density or height. The system also integrates easily with the PA1000 barcode print-and-apply systems from Hudson Robotics.

This fully automated system is another example of how Hudson Robotics helps our clients increase productivity through laboratory automation. By anticipating and satisfying your needs, we continue to help you stay ahead of the curve.

For more information or to arrange a demonstration of the RapidPick ACIS in your laboratory, please contact Joe Eckert at 973-376-7400 or jeckert@hudsonrobotics.com.

Hudson Control Group recently announced the addition of Wagner Medical and Pharmaceutical to handle sales in continental Europe.  The extensive experience of Jürgen and Ingrid Wagner will enable Hudson Control  Group to react faster to their customers lab automation needs with customized solutions.  “Hudson Control Group is the leader in microplate automation, while also providing the most advanced, yet rugged robotic technology available to research laboratories.” notes Phil Farrelly, President of Hudson Control Group. “We are excited to have the Wagner’s represent Hudson and are looking forward to their strong market relationships and experience furthering our sales efforts in Europe”.

Located in Springfield, New Jersey, Hudson Control Group is a leader in microplate automation, robotics and customized software-driven solutions. The company works with customers in the drug discovery, high throughput screening, proteomics and genomics markets to develop strategies that best meet their unique needs, whether for an integrated system of automated laboratory equipment or for automating a single instrument.

Hudson Robotics is pleased to announce major expansion plans for the company.  The company is currently setting up numerous new distributors in Europe and Asia as well as expanding exposure to these markets through advertising and local tradeshows. Our easy-to-use, robust workcell solutions are gaining interest in many of the midsize labs in Europe that want more automation but not the complexity of running a very large system.

The company is also expanding internally.  With a goal of 1 new hire per month for 2011 Hudson is continuously adding new expertise and talent to the team.

News You Can Use

Are you working with dried blood spots?   Do you need a better solution to a hand punch or ineffective automated system?  No matter your application, research or clinical; high throughput or a few hundred, you need a reliable system that actually gets the spots into the wells and software that lets you know what went where.  Hudson’s patented DBS – Dried Blood Spot Punch System is the only system that pushes the spot into the well of the receiving microplate.  The patented plunger system eliminates guess work, static problems and possible contamination from blowing air all over the destination plate.  Two (2) barcode readers track the sample card and the microplate.  Easy to use software keeps track of the plate wells.  Simple, fast and reliable and surprisingly affordable the Hudson DBS is the best choice for your dried blood sample processing. Click on Hudson DBS for more information.

The only solution for fully automated colony growth and isolation is now available.  Hudson Robotics is completing the testing of a new configuration for the RapidPick automated colony picker that allows for fully automated colony growth, picking and incubation.  This advanced colony picking system includes a Liconic STR44 automated incubator located under the table and a Hudson Micro10X media dispenser in addition to the colony picker, PlateCrane arm and stackers.  The new configuration allows users to grow colonies in the incubator, automatically bring them to the picker, bring empty destination plates to the Micro10x, fill the plates with media, pick colonies according to the user’s criteria, the inoculated plates are sent to the incubator and the picked plates are placed in the stackers.  The entire system runs unattended and can process from 1000 to 10,000 colonies depending on the inoculation scheme.  Click on Hudson RapidPick System for more information on the full line of RapidPick Colony Picking Systems.

Congratulations to  

Shastine Keeney of Genentech.   

Shastine is the winner of our Lab Automation 2011 drawing for a new iPad!

Multi-Company Collaboration on Scalable, Automated ELISA Workstations

Hudson recently began a collaboration with BMG LabTech, LifeTechnologies (invitrogen), and Corning to develop several workstations that support ELISA assays on multi-plate scale down to single samples.  This information was presented at a joint workshop at LabAutomation 2011.

Insulin Receptor pY1334 ELISA kits were provided by Life Technologies (Invitrogen) and the results were read on the new BMG LabTech SPECTRAstar UV/VIS absorbance spectophotometer.

A key part of the ELISA assay is the series of reagent additions, followed by washes with buffer solution.  For large scale screening, these steps are carried out by the RapidWash and small scale experiments can be carried out completely on the deck of the Hudson SOLO pipettor.  This allows users to carry out ELISA assays on individual wells and not waste expensive bound antibody on unused portions of a plate.

For faster speeds, the Micro10x can be added to the workstation to add common reagents one row at a time; and the addition of the RapidWash maximizes the speed by allowing full plate washing.

2010: Record-Setting Year for Hudson

Phil Farrelly, President Hudson Robotics

This is our first email newsletter since the close of 2010, and we are really pleased to say that 2010 has been the best year in Hudson’s 28-year history.  We broke every previous record for total orders received, and the company has never been in better financial health.  We have expanded our sales organization to have truly national coverage, with a new in-house sales and customer support resources, an expanded service team and a dedicated marketing group.

Those of you who keep track of the life science research trade press will perhaps notice a greatly enlarged presence of Hudson in the advertising and new product areas.  After years of development, we finally have a product line which comprehensively addresses our customers’ unmet needs, and 2010′s strong sales results show this.  It is our goal to let the life science research community aware of the depth and breadth of solutions, large and small, that we can bring to their research.

Hudson’s objective for 2011 is to finally stop being “the best kept secret in lab automation”, as I’ve heard us called by a number of people, both customers and partners.  By the end of 2011, we aim to become “the best known secret in lab automation”.  As you might conclude from some of the stories in this edition of Hudson Horizons, we are beginning to do the things that will help us meet this goal, and we intend to even intensify our efforts to live up to our tag line of “Accelerating Life Sciences”.

Upcoming Trade Shows

LRIG Southeast, RTP, NC

March 9, 2011

Click Here for Details

17th SBS – Booth 425,

Orlando, FL

March 27 – 31, 2011

Click Here for Details

LRIG – NJ

May 17, 2011

Click Here for Details

European Lab Automation

Hamburg, Germany

June 30 – July 1, 2011

Click Here for Details

Phil Farrelly, President, Hudson Robotics, Inc.

Effective June 1, 2009 our company name will become Hudson Robotics, Inc.

Founded in 1983, our company’s original name was Hudson Robotics, Inc.  As the nature of our business during the late 1980′s moved more into engineered control systems as well as integrated robot systems, we changed our name to Hudson Control Group, Inc. in 1992.  Virtually all of you know us by that name today, and the few who may remember Hudson Robotics are very few.

However, today our business is exclusively providing automation and robotics to life science laboratories.  We manufacture the leading microplate robot arm in our industry, the PlateCrane EX.  All our other products are either robotic devices (like our SOLO Robotic Pipettor) or work in concert with robots (like our LabLinx system). Everything we do involves some sort of robotic automation and scheduling for laboratories.
For the past 10 years, our business has focused exclusively on lab automation and we are repeatedly asked by new customers, “What do you guys do?”  The name Hudson Control Group really doesn’t do anything to answer that question.  So, it’s back to the future for us, and we’re re-adopting our old name…because that’s what we do!
Robotics.  Arms, pipettors, dispensers, plate movers, scheduling software, instrument integrations…Everything in lab robotics, and that’s our business.

Business materials and correspondence using Hudson Control Group, Inc. are still valid and will continue to be accepted.  The company itself isn’t changing, just our name.  And, for legal purposes, both names are valid.  So, for those of you who have existing orders or invoices with us, or have quotations from us, nothing has changed.  We’ll still honor Hudson Control Group as long as you wish to use that.
But from now on, think of us as Hudson Robotics and you’ll know what we’re all about!

SPRINGFIELD, NJ (April, 2009)-Hudson Control is now offering the RapidPick ‘Lite’ a scaled –down version of our highly-regarded RapidPick Workcell for users who need high speed colony-picking but can’t afford, or don’t wish, to couple the automated plate-handling and picking/re-arraying functions with the RapidPick’s immediate pre-pick media filling and immediate post-pick sealing of the growth/daughter plate. The RapidPick ‘Lite’ offers all the capacity, throughput and picking/re-arraying features of the RapidPick workcell, but without media dispensing or plate sealing. And, the RapidPick ‘Lite’ fits conveniently on most lab benchtops, taking up an absolute minimum of valuable laboratory real estate.

Springfield, NJ (January 25, 2009) – Hudson Control Group, Inc., a leader in microplate automation, robotics and customized software-driven solutions, introduced VaryScreen™ I, a versatile multi-assay screening and development system, at the LabAutomation2009 exhibition, opening today at the Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, CA. VaryScreen I is on display in Booth 415.

“VaryScreen will appeal to the wide range of customers who want a workcell that handles a greater number of assays, instead of dedicating a system to one assay type,” said Phil Farrelly, president of Hudson Control Group. “VaryScreen delivers the freedom and flexibility not only to conduct many assay types on a single workcell, but to model changes within assays, which is critical to validating assays in real time.”

Targeted at applications from drug discovery to genomics and proteomics, in environments from research to high throughput screening, VaryScreen now enables investigators to rapidly switch assays, including six of the most commonly performed assays today:

• AlphaScreen
• Luminescence
• FRET
• ELISA
• Fluorescence Polarization
• UV/Vis Absorbance

Users can perform countless other assays with just a few user-friendly software modifications. And they can make and analyze changes within assay types to develop, model and validate in-house screens – all on a single system.

See the VaryScreen at LabAutomation2009, Booth 415.  For information or to arrange a demonstration, please visit www.hudsoncontrol.com.

About Lab Automation

LabAutomation2009, presented by the Association for Laboratory Automation (ALA), is the world’s largest conference and exhibition focused exclusively on the rapidly growing field of laboratory automation.

About Hudson Control Group

Located in Springfield, New Jersey, Hudson Control Group is a leader in microplate automation, robotics and customized software-driven solutions. The company works with customers in the drug discovery, high-throughput screening, proteomics and genomics markets to develop strategies that best meet their unique needs, whether for an integrated system of automated laboratory equipment or for automating a single instrument.

Hudson Control Group, Inc. and Guava Technologies, Inc. have entered into a partnership to provide scientists with an automated sample acquisition system for Cellular Analysis Research. This integrated platform combines the Guava EasyCyte Plus Flow Cytometer with Hudson’s PlateCrane EX microplate robot arm and micro10 High Volume Liquid Dispenser. This automated sample acquisition workcell features built-in microplate and tube sample inputs, micro-volume sampling, multiplex analysis, and up to 6 detection parameters. The Guava benchtop flow cytometry system is capable of automating the set-up and analysis of Guava’s mix and read assays resulting in continuous unattended operation for cell counting and viability analysis in a 96-well format.

An automated Flow Cytometry System can improve a lab’s productivity by enabling scientist’s to conduct complex cell analysis in their own lab, to generate parameter-dependant results rather than mere data points; while optimizing their time. With the corresponding Guava reagents, this system is able to perform several forms of Apoptosis detection, Cell counting, viability and cycle analysis, as well as antibody characterization and antigen detection.

Hudson’s cost-effective workcell offers small footprints for mobility and flexibility, and easy-to-use Softlinx software for data tracking and scheduling. The combination of the instrument layout and intelligence of the software makes it possible to fully utilize each component for one-off experiments without interfering with in-progress screens.