Developing Adaptable, Multipurpose Protocols through the Use of Cellario 3.5 Version Software Upgrade

The integrated robot systems in our laboratory are frequently utilized for single point and dose response compound screening assays. Routinely, we perform single point, primary screen assays on focused compound libraries and follow up with dose response screens in triplicate. Until recently, software limitations on our robotic systems required that all parameters within a protocol be hard coded, meaning that a change in parameter values (e.g., transfer volumes, number of times used, etc.) required creation of a new protocol each time a change was needed. A recent upgrade to our scheduling software introduced the ability to create versions of the same protocol and configure run parameters, allowing a single protocol to be adaptable to the varying needs of a diverse range of screening conditions. The hard-set requirement is that the assay(s) must utilize the same set of instruments for each run. Any changes made to instrument parameters no longer require a new protocol entirely; rather, they now become new versions of an existing protocol. Labware specific parameters, such as dispense volume, instrument method, and number of times used can now be selected or manually entered when creating a new run. Our first use of this new capability was as part of a TR-FRET assay and allows us to use the same protocol for a range of screening conditions with both primary screening and dose response screening modes. This reduces complexity by eliminating the need for multiple protocols to support one project, allows us to use the same protocol for multiple projects, and saves development time by enabling the use of established protocols instead of requiring development of new ones.