Guide to Reaction Miniaturization: The Key to Next-Generation High-Throughput Workflows

Reaction miniaturization is the process of scaling down assays to decrease the total assay volume while maintaining accurate and reliable results. It is gaining popularity over traditional workflows due to multiple benefits, including time-efficiency, cost-saving, and improving sustainability^1,2. Reaction miniaturization is transforming research in many areas of research, such as drug discovery³ and diagnostics⁴. In this article, we will discuss challenges in traditional workflows that reaction miniaturization solves, the areas of life sciences reaction miniaturization is transforming, and what benefits miniaturization bestows.

Overcoming Challenges in Traditional Workflows Using Reaction Miniaturization

Traditional workflows experience numerous challenges, many of which can be solved through the incorporation of reaction miniaturization into workflows. Waste within labs is one such challenge. Scientific research often involves large amounts of waste due to workflow inefficiencies and single-use plastics. Workflow inefficiencies, such as the use of protocol-specified large volumes of reagent and high dead volumes, result in expensive reagents and precious samples being wasted⁵. Reaction miniaturization decreases the volume of reagent and sample required by up to a factor of 10, reducing waste and saving money⁶. Liquid handling automation also reduces reagent waste by decreasing the dead volume. Automation also helps to reduce single-use plastic wastage as it minimizes the use of pipette tips². 

Further challenges arise from an increased likelihood of human error in traditional, manual workflows. Errors affect data validity and reproducibility, an increasingly common issue in science⁷. Reaction miniaturization requires liquid handling automation tools, such as DISPENDIX’s I.DOT Liquid Handler (Fig. 1), to accurately dispense the small reagent volumes. These systems remove the risk of human error and contribute to minimizing batch effects and maximizing reproducibility^8,9. Reaction miniaturization also overcomes challenges associated with low throughout experiments by aiding scalability, reducing associated costs, optimizing efficiency, and, therefore, enabling high throughput experiments¹. 

Figure 1. The I.DOT Liquid Handler can accurately dispense volumes as small as 4 nL, enabling assay miniaturization.

Read our dedicated article on the role of miniaturized reactions in modern laboratories to learn more about how reaction miniaturization is overcoming challenges.

Miniaturization in Life Sciences

Reaction miniaturization is now being applied to multiple areas of scientific research and healthcare. High-throughput screening of thousands of compounds is required for drug discovery. Traditional workflows have high costs associated with scaling up assays – large volumes of reagents are needed, and each test uses large volumes of the precious compound samples¹⁰. Reaction miniaturization enables scaling up drug screening by reducing reagent consumption and thereby reducing costs¹. 

Genomics and proteomics are also using miniaturization to improve their workflows. Reaction miniaturization can be used in antibody-based reactions to increase assay sensitivity, even while decreasing sample volume¹¹. DISPENDIX’s G.PREP NGS Automation technologies are enabling the miniaturization of next-generation sequencing (NGS), decreasing reagent volumes by as much as 1/10th of the manufacturer’s suggested volumes, and saving users a large amount of money. 

Reaction miniaturization is being used in synthetic biology to increase throughput by allowing multiple reactions to be carried out simultaneously so that multiple steps in DNA synthesis can be carried out on a single chip¹². 

Diagnostics is another field reaction miniaturization is transforming. The reduction in sample and reagent volume not only enables the production of more cost-effective clinical diagnostic solutions but also increases the portability of diagnostic assays, improving point-of-care testing¹³. This is exemplified in the production of lab-on-a-chip technology, where miniaturized reactions are carried out on one small device¹⁴. 

Read our full article to learn more about the range of miniaturization applications in life sciences.

Benefits of Reaction Miniaturization

There are many benefits of reaction miniaturization over traditional workflows. The decrease in the volume of reagents required leads to vast cost-saving benefits. Reagents at up to 1/10th of the recommended volume can produce the same amount of high-quality data, so more experiments can be carried out with the same initial volume of reagent^15,16. Combining reaction miniaturization with automation further increases the volume of reagent conserved as automation reduces the reagent dead volume. For example, DISPENDIX’s I.DOT Liquid Handler has a dead volume of only 1 μL. Reaction miniaturization also contributes to time-saving benefits, enabling parallel processing – where multiple reactions can be carried out simultaneously⁵. 

Lab sustainability can be boosted through the use of reaction miniaturization as fewer disposable plastics are required, and the use of automation can vastly decrease the number of pipette tips used (Fig. 2)². In addition, decreased reagent input results in reductions in the amount of hazardous waste produced, further contributing to sustainability¹⁵. The cost-saving and time-saving benefits of reaction miniaturization also result in increased scalability and the ability to perform high-throughput experiments without a steep rise in costs and time¹.

Figure 2. Scientific labs produce large amounts of plastic waste. (Source)

Read our dedicated article exploring miniaturized reaction benefits to learn more.

Conclusion

Reaction miniaturization is addressing key challenges in traditional experimental workflows, including reducing reagent waste, inefficiencies, and human error, to revolutionize workflows. Its vast range of applications across scientific fields, including drug discovery, genomics and proteomics, synthetic biology, and diagnostics, are having a transformative effect on research and healthcare. Reaction miniaturization offers many benefits, including reduced costs, time-savings, improved sustainability, and the ability to easily scale up experiments. The integration of automation, such as solutions provided by DISPENDIX, further boost accuracy, reproducibility, and high-throughput capabilities.

Ready to accelerate your research? 

Discover how DISPENDIX can enhance precision, efficiency, and reproducibility in your lab through our miniaturization technology. Download the I.DOT brochure or the G.PREP brochure and take the next step in transforming your workflows!

References

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