Implementation of a High Specification Dual-Arm Robotic Platform to Meet Flexible Screening Needs

The need for a high degree of flexibility within compound screening is a requirement throughout the drug discovery industry. The demands made of automation technology are becoming increasingly sophisticated as assay formats diversify and confidence in screening automation grows. To meet these demands for high-performance and flexibility, MSD with RTS Life Science have developed and installed a dual-robot arm screening system at our Terlings Park site to support early stage drug discovery. Plate transport on the system is via two articulated robotic Staubli arms. The system has two operating modes, combined, with the entire system operating in unison; and independent with each robot arm acting independently to perform two different screens in parallel. Additional flexibility is provided by the SPRINT software ‘dynamic batch scheduling’ feature. This allows for the scheduling of multiple screens to run automatically and for extra plates to be added and new screens to be added once the system is running without the need to stop the system and reschedule the work plan. The utility of the systems is exemplified in a kinase counter screening mode in which four different kinase assays are run against the same set of compounds in one robotic run.