Cancer research has progressed immensely in recent years. However, several key barriers prevent progress and slow the development of life-saving therapies. Manual liquid handling remains a persistent source of error and contamination1,2 in cancer research workflows, slowing down early drug development. Many processes rely on accurately dispensing small numbers of cells and minute volumes of test compounds for drug screening. These and other problems lead to inefficient resource allocation, mountains of consumable waste, and delayed research and drug development timelines3,4.
Automated liquid handlers have recently emerged to solve many issues with manual handling techniques. In this article, we review the transformative role that automated liquid handlers now play in various aspects of cancer research.
The Evolution of Liquid Handling in Labs
Before micropipettes, researchers used glass burettes and mouth pipetting to handle liquid. This carried obvious risks for researcher health and experimental success and is, thankfully, a thing of the past. Manual micropipettes offer a more accurate and safer alternative but still necessitate longer and more tedious procedures than newer alternatives (Fig. 1). Automated liquid handlers have changed the face of biomedical laboratory procedures5. These liquid handlers allow nanoliter volumes to be dispensed quickly and accurately and provide non-contact dispensing to reduce the risk of contamination. Automated liquid handlers enable high-throughput workflows while letting researchers perform other less-tedious tasks6.
Let’s look at how liquid handlers enhance and streamline cancer research.
Figure 1. Manual micropipetting is an inherently error-prone process that can expose researchers to harmful reagents. (Source)
The success of modern drug discovery hinges on researchers' ability to generate large amounts of data to identify potential leads for further exploration7. Automated liquid handlers enable high-throughput screening of thousands of compounds with minimal need for manual inputs. This not only speeds up research and ensures better experimental integrity but also reduces researchers' manual workload, allowing them to focus on the best hits and plan the next steps. Automated liquid handlers allow screening experiments to be significantly scaled down, letting researchers save money on reagents without compromising quality8.
Genetic sequencing is becoming an essential part of cancer research, allowing researchers to perform large-scale analyses of populations to determine cancer-associated variants. These discoveries can help identify new drug targets and allow therapies to be tailored to a patient's specific genetic background9. This technique requires accurate dispensing of very small volumes of DNA and is incredibly sensitive to contamination. Automated library preparation, sample handling, and dispensing ensure accurate and reliable sequencing results10. Automated liquid handling removes many common sources of error that can make sequencing data difficult (if not impossible) to interpret.
Modern cancer research involves increasingly complex assays that require a variety of reagents and instrumentation to execute correctly. Intricate protocols are incredibly challenging to perform manually and often require large timescales. These assays include next-generation sequencing (NGS), high-throughput drug screening, and cell-based assays.
Cell-based assays are challenging to perform at large scales. Cells are naturally vulnerable to overcrowding in wells and improper handling, which add unacceptable variables to cancer research assays, which typically monitor cellular viability as a core parameter11. Automated liquid handlers ensure consistent, accurate, and appropriate handling of cells to greatly reduce variability between different samples.
Automation has several benefits for cancer researchers, including saving time and cost reduction.
Automated liquid handlers perform liquid handling tasks far faster than manual methods, streamlining research timelines5. For researchers, automated liquid handlers mean they can allocate their time to other tasks to which they can apply their years of expertise and training. This means that automated handling promotes better decision-making by providing higher-quality data and giving researchers more time to interpret that data.
Automated liquid handling significantly reduces costs in several ways. Scaling down experiments saves costs on consumables like multiwell plates and cell culture media8. Automated liquid handlers perform liquid dispensing tasks more accurately, meaning there is less need for repeat experiments or extra technical replicates.
The G.PREP from DISPENDIX is a one-stop automated platform for NGS experiments, incorporating the I.DOT Liquid Handler and the G.PURE NGS Clean-Up Device (Fig. 2). Use the G.PREP ROI Calculator to see how much you could save by switching to automated handling.
Figure 2. The G.PREP integrates the I.DOT Liquid Handler which provides precise, low-volume dispensing down to 0.1 nanoliter.
Automated liquid handling is transforming cancer research by enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and improving accuracy in critical processes like drug discovery, NGS, and other complex assays. By minimizing human error and contamination, automation accelerates research timelines and ensures more reliable results. As cancer research continues to evolve, automated liquid handling will remain an essential tool, driving innovations and advancing the development of life-saving therapies at an unprecedented pace.
Don't let outdated liquid handling methods hold back your groundbreaking work. Discover how automated liquid handlers can transform your lab's efficiency and accuracy. Download the G.PREP brochure today to learn more!