SUNNYVALE, Calif.–Labcyte Inc. announces the revolutionary Intellectual Scheduler for its POD™ 810 system, which assembles assay-ready “plates-on-demand” for optimizing drug discovery. Unlike traditional sequential schedulers, the Labcyte® Intellectual Scheduler is event-based, with built-in intelligence to automatically adjust workflow. The Intellectual Scheduler was developed to maximize productivity and to minimize user intervention, resulting in an out-of-the-box solution that allows users to be up-and-running within days.

“Software is the key to POD utility,” said Dr. Rodney Bednar, Senior Investigator/Group Leader/Chief Drug Discovery Engineer/Director of FAST (Facility for Automation & Screening Technology) at Merck & Co., Inc.

“Clearly the biggest differentiator of the Intellectual Scheduler is that the user doesn’t have to program anything, ever. The user focuses on the experimental design and lets the Intellectual Scheduler and the Echo application software determine the best steps to achieve the end result. If changes are made, the system dynamically reconfigures itself to accomplish new experimental designs,” said Harry Vlahos, Labcyte Director of Software Engineering. “The fact that we have been chosen to showcase this technology at Late Night at LRIG indicates that the community sees the importance of the advance.”

In just a few minutes, using a wizard-based tool, users can set up a complex run and walk away. The Intellectual Scheduler optimizes each task, resulting in significantly increased productivity while taking full advantage of the power and flexibility of the award-winning Labcyte Echo liquid handler. Using proprietary acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) technology, Echo liquid handlers provide better results, significant cost savings and are better for the environment compared to traditional liquid handling platforms.

Labcyte also announces the addition of its new Echo Plate Reformat software to its suite of applications for POD plate assemblers and Echo liquid handlers. Echo Plate Reformat software uses a simple, color-coded, drag-and-drop approach to enable users to design assay plates or to reformat existing source plates with ease.

Visit LabAutomation booth 370 to see live demonstrations of the Labcyte POD plate assembler with Intellectual Scheduler and Echo Plate Reformat software as well as the following special sessions:

-Workshop, 12:30 PM, Monday, January 26 in Smoketree B – Dr. Bednar will explain how Merck utilizes the POD to facilitate real-time lead identification.

-Podium presentation, 4:00 PM, Tuesday, January 27, Catalina Room – “1400 Dose-Response Curves per Hour—True High-Throughput Secondary Screening” will reveal how the Intellectual Scheduler makes this possible.

-Podium presentation, Wednesday, 9:30 AM, January 28, Mojave Room, “Automating Assay Plate Creation using a Flexible High-Throughput Application Architecture” focuses on using smart software to increase productivity.

-Poster presentation, MP53 – 1400 Dose-Response Curves per Hour—True High-Throughput Secondary Screening.

About Labcyte Inc.

Labcyte Inc. uses sound to move liquids. This ‘touchless’ technology provides dramatically better results by eliminating pipette tips and the adsorption of compounds on their surfaces during transfer, while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in decreased consumables. Accuracy is maintained from the first drop through the last for a wide variety of fluids including many considered intractable by other techniques. The technology is coupled with our Deerac™ instruments to make Labcyte a leader in miniaturizing biological assays. The award-winning Echo liquid handlers and Portrait® 630 spotters are used in nine of the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies, as well as in leading academic and research institutions worldwide. Labcyte technologies have broad applications including compound management, genomics, proteomics, particle manufacturing, imaging mass spectrometry, and live-cell transfer. Labcyte is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with offices in Dublin, Ireland. The company has 39 issued U.S. patents, 6 issued European patents and additional U.S. and international filings. For more information, visit www.labcyte.com.