Development of flow through extraction capabilities for the automation of in-tip sample preparation

Reliable and reproducible experimental procedures involving solid-phase extraction is one of the many challenges that analytical laboratories experience on a daily basis. In many applications that range from desalting to solid phase extraction, having the ability to process a small number of samples quickly for sample clean up prior to liquid chromatography is attractive. Chemistries packed in a pipette tip format is complex due to the fact that the pipette is not inherently designed for this purpose. Programming and handling of the pipette is key to get consistency and repeatability.

To overcome the challenges, a new action needed to be developed, tested and added to the Andrew+ software platform, OneLab. The goal was to be able to use the existing pipettes compatible with the robotic platform for extraction. The laboratory software ontology that was developed is named “flow-through extraction”. This new action allows the laboratory analyst to easily add and describe an experimental action of extraction through a dedicated user-interface. The person in charge of the design of the method can set the type of physical action used to make the extraction that can be used such as vacuum (negative pressure), positive pressure, positive pressure with pipette, centrifugation, or gravity. The user can control the speed and flow through the software depending on the type of chemistry in the tip. The result is a more consistent and controlled extraction when using chemistries packed in pipette tips.