Agilent Automation Solutions has announced a new technical poster** that describes a customized, novel automated flow cytometry screening system for cell based screening of small molecule compound libraries, RNAi libraries and functional genomics applications.

The described fully automated platform consisted of an IntelliCyt HyperCyt High-Throughput Flow Cytometry (HTFC) platform coupled with 2 Beckman Coulter Cyan flow cytometers and integrated into an Agilent BioCel 1200 sample preparation and plate handling robotic platform. The automated system, as configured, performs a diverse set of tasks important for carrying out functional genomics screens (cell culture, transfections, infections, sample concentration and high-throughput flow cytometry) with excellent throughput and minimal manual manipulation.

The technical poster presented at Society of Biomolecular Sciences conference (SBS 2009) shows how a proof-of-principle functional genomics shRNAmir screen for inhibitors of TGF-ß1 signaling in MPC9A7 cells identified several important regulators of this pathway. shRNAmirs targeting known signaling proteins such as Alk5 were readily detected using the HTFC capabilities of this platform.

With the automation configuration presented in the technical poster, throughput of the HyperCyt HTFC platform was doubled compared to stand alone operation. Data analysis software associated with the Agilent BioCel 1200 allowed plate level statistics to be generated within minutes of a screening run. In addition to speed, the technology is shown to substantially reduce the amount of sample aspirated for each analysis, typically acquiring 2 µl per well with thousands to tens of thousands of cells in each sample.

From stand-alone units to fully integrated systems, Agilent Automation Solutions teams key sample preparation and creative walk-away automation approaches with personalized customer service to provide complete solutions for your laboratory. Combining innovative engineering with high standards of quality, Agilent designs and manufactures high-performance equipment for processes that are revolutionizing pharmaceutical, biotech, and genomic research.

** The poster was first presented at SBS 2009 by Todd Kinsella1, George Yam1, Derek Hansen1, Annabelle Friera1, Alice Chen2, Thomas Duensing3 and Linda Trinkle3 - - 1Rigel Inc., South San Francisco, CA; 2Agilent Automation, Santa Clara, CA; 3IntelliCyt Corporation, Albuquerque, NM

A copy of the new technical poster is available by contacting Agilent Automation on email europeansales.automation@agilent.com.