Robotic chromatography: development and evaluation of automated instrumentation for assay of glycohemoglobin

Abstract

The measurement of glycohemoglobin (GHb) by boronate affinity chromatography is useful in monitoring long-term glucose control in diabetic subjects. The inherent disadvantage of this method is the hands-on time required because the hemoglobin fractions are separated on individual disposable columns. To overcome this disadvantage, we have programmed a Hamilton Microlab 2200 automated pipetting cartesian robot to complete the procedure, from the aspiration of blood from the sample-collection tube to the transfer of the separated hemoglobin fractions to a microtiter plate for absorbance measurement. This automated robotic system can analyze 96 specimens, including patients' samples and control material, in approximately 3 h. The precision (CV) of the method ranged from 1.6% to 3.5% within-run and from 2.7% to 3.5% day-to-day. The results correlated with those obtained with the Accuflex semiautomated robot, which used the identical disposable column, and those obtained with a Primus high-performance liquid chromatograph, which used a regenerated microparticle column. Automation of the GHb procedure allowed improved throughput, reduced labor cost, improved precision, and offered greater laboratory safety.

Automated Processing of Forensic Casework Samples Using Robotic Workstations Equipped with Nondisposable Tips: Contamination Prevention

“…Laboratories engaged in automation that utilize robotic workstations equipped with nondisposable tips have adopted different approaches to prevent carryover. Researchers have used an excess volume of water to flush out potential contaminants (7,19,36,(48)(49)(50)(51)(52) or have used a diluted version of RoboScrub (TECAN product) for cleaning the tips (53). Some researchers have also incorporated a 0.5% or 1% sodium hypochlorite tip wash step at the start of each day as a preventive measure to potential carry-over (7,36).…”

“…Some researchers have also incorporated a 0.5% or 1% sodium hypochlorite tip wash step at the start of each day as a preventive measure to potential carry‐over (7,36). These tip washing routines proved to be sufficient to prevent contamination for high throughput DNA databasing (19), high throughput plasmid DNA isolation for sequencing (52), robotic chromatography (50), biopharmaceutical applications (53), or clinical diagnostic applications (36,48,51). The effectiveness of a wash routine is dependent on the sensitivity of the test for which it is applied.…”