Photo Credit: Biosero
by Ryan Bernhardt, Chief Commercial Officer, Biosero
Laboratory automation has evolved well beyond the era of monolithic platforms. Instead of relying solely on giant machines that perform the same task over and over, there is also a need for smaller, more agile systems that support a flexible approach to automation.
Demand is being driven by scientific workflows that are more complex and less volume-dependent than labs once used. High-throughput screening, which has long been enabled by automation, typically involves a few processes repeated again and again for a large number of samples. But more recent workflows are very different: next-generation sequencing, for example, requires dozens of processes performed on just a few samples.
With new techniques and technology routinely changing laboratory workflows, flexibility has quickly become a priority for automated lab operations throughout the drug discovery pipeline. These nimbler approaches to automation are also making it possible to increase instrument utilization and eliminate redundant setups across lab facilities, helping pharmaceutical and biotech companies spend less on equipment and get more out of it.
One of the most important recent innovations in laboratory automation is the incorporation of mobile robots. Think of them as droids for the lab: mobile robots can whisk samples from a freezer or incubator to the workflow where they’re needed, even across floors or buildings. They are particularly useful in labs where devices and workstations are spread across the facility, and humans currently do the labor to move samples around for processing. Even 10 years ago, automation often involved systems with a huge footprint that required a dedicated lab space, taking more than a year to implement. Now, through mobile robots, instant laboratory automation is possible. The only requirement is enough space for the mobile robot to approach a standalone instrument or lab bench. Mobile robots are allowing scientists to reimagine what’s possible in an automated laboratory or research campus.
Mobile Robots
A relative newcomer to the laboratory automation space, the mobile robot is adding a level of agility and flexibility that had never been possible before. These sensor-laden robots can move independently around laboratories or even across a campus, navigating carefully around buildings, people, instruments, and other obstacles as they go. They can be used to perform a wide variety of simple tasks, such as carrying samples, reagents, and consumables along designated routes to the instruments that need them.
Delegating sample and consumable delivery to mobile robots frees up scientists’ time and makes it more feasible to move these items from one lab to another, or from one building to another, allowing for the more efficient model of a central laboratory. Using mobile robots also ensures safer transportation of precious samples, which can be moved around in temperature-controlled conditions.
These capabilities offer a number of advantages in drug discovery. For example, compared to workflows where humans are relied upon to move samples from a workstation to a freezer, samples might be kept out of the freezer for uncomfortably long periods; mobile robots can be tasked with minimizing the time a sample spends out of the freezer and returning it to cold storage as soon as possible. For precious samples, that can make a real difference in long-term viability.
Mobile robots can also closely mimic human operator functions, making them an easier path to automation for many labs. They can approach any instrument in an automated workflow, for example, and use it in standalone mode when needed to run an ad hoc experiment. The equipment stays where it is, still connected to a larger workflow, but mobile robots allow for increased utilization of each component in the automated lab. Thanks to simple operations like this, mobile robots can help scientists learn the fundamentals of automation and prepare them to work with larger-scale installations.
Self-Assembling Workstations
Even though it’s still early days for mobile robots in automated lab settings, scientists are already finding ways to derive more value from them. One of the most exciting is using mobile robots to enable workstations that can assemble themselves, perform a needed project or workflow, and then break apart and recombine themselves into something new.
Here’s how it works: several scientific instruments are mounted individually on mobile robots, giving each piece of equipment the ability to move around the lab. Creating any given workstation setup is simply a matter of calling the right combination of equipment. The mobilized equipment comes together, docking, and establishing connections as needed. Once the workstation has been assembled — without any human intervention required — the assay or project can be run. Upon completion, if the workstation is no longer needed, the equipment can be programmed to disconnect from the others and move into a storage area or assemble with a different subset of equipment to build another workstation.
This may sound like something out of the Transformers, but it is now a real option for drug discovery operations where workflow needs may change on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis — or where instruments are shared by several labs. The ability to deploy them in a self-assembling model powered by mobile robots allows companies to maximize the return on very expensive pieces of equipment. This approach offers much-needed flexibility and functionality and can give labs new capabilities without requiring major changes to existing infrastructure.
Staying Flexible
In drug discovery pipelines, flexibility in lab setups and capabilities has quickly evolved from a nice-to-have to a must-have. Today’s workflows must be adaptable to cover a variety of scientific needs, to pivot more easily as priorities for drug targets and candidate therapies change, and to allow for rapid implementation of new scientific or technological advances.
In the halls of pharma and biotech, automation has traditionally been implemented to boost productivity. But now, automation should also serve as a means of making the company’s science more adaptable and enabling round-the-clock research operations. Investments in automation should follow a strategic roadmap, carefully planned to incorporate flexible options wherever possible to prepare for whatever new capabilities or workflows are necessary in the coming years.
Finally, flexible automation can help drug discovery companies maximize the most valuable asset they have: their teams. With automated workflows and mobile robots to handle repetitive or simple tasks, team members’ time can be focused more effectively on the complex problems that really need human brain power. Planning, interpretation, problem-solving, and other strategic functions can become the priority for team members when they are released from lower-value tasks such as moving samples around.
For an example of how this approach makes a difference, consider how scientists at AstraZeneca incorporated mobile robots into their drug discovery operations. In an effort to reduce the number of duplicated laboratory setups needed for teams in different buildings on campus, they designed and built a “beehive” model. This allows for a centralized laboratory (or beehive) with all needed equipment, supported by “worker bee” mobile robots that go out from the lab to collect samples from other facilities throughout the campus and bring them back for analysis. Research teams conduct their work in their usual offices, able to review and analyze the data produced in the central lab without losing productivity at any point. An added benefit of this change is that team members can plan and prepare experiments whenever it’s convenient for them instead of having to time their work around the schedule of a local laboratory’s workstation.
Looking Ahead
Drug discovery teams around the world are under increasing pressure to identify new targets and more effective drug candidates, all without breaking the budget. Automation will be essential for meeting these demands. Automated approaches can boost productivity, save time, and reduce costs. But for optimal utility, automation must be flexible enough to facilitate shifting priorities, many different assays, and evolving workflows.
Some early adopters in the pharmaceutical world have already incorporated mobile robots into their operations and have demonstrated how successful these tools are for creating a more flexible laboratory environment, maximizing instrument utilization, and getting the most out of research teams. In the coming years, more pharmaceutical and biotech companies will implement mobile robots and the self-assembling workstations they enable. This important shift will support improved functionality and better outcomes across the drug discovery pipeline.
About the Author: Ryan Bernhardt is Chief Commercial Officer at Biosero, a lab automation software provider. Previously, he worked at Eli Lilly and Company as part of the Discovery Automation Research and Technologies Group, where he led a team of automation engineers and scientists.