TAP's custom automation projects encompass collaborations with leading academic and research institutions, together with commercial projects and product development for customers from a wide range of life science business sectors.     Novel Technology for Manufacturing 3D Tissues TAP is the lead partner in a consortium with scientists from UCL's (University College London, UK) Tissue Repair and Engineering Centre and the Institute of Ophthalmology, working on a project which won funding in a Technology Strategy Board collaborative R&D competition in Cell Therapy. The three year RAFT project (Rapid Automated Fabrication of Tissues) aims to develop and commercialise novel technology for rapid production of 3D tissues, which have the potential to transform drug discovery and regenerative medicine. Automated cell culture in shake flasks Following the success of our SelecT system for T-flasks, we were approached to apply the technology to automate suspension cultures in shake flasks. TAP took the SelecT platform and developed a novel, high capacity shaking incubator, modified it to handle shake flasks and centrifuge tubes and combined it with a new software platform optimised for the more complex scheduling tasks Automated protein concentration Following detailed discussions with a biologics development group, TAP were commissioned to create a novel automated protein purification and concentration system. Specifically tailored to their workflow requirements the system automates parallel affinity purification in combination with a novel automated concentration module providing a fixed final volume of purified, concentrated protein from 96 samples every 24 hours. GMP validation Scaling up of adherent cell culture for autologous cell therapies has been perceived as a major bottleneck in many manufacturing strategies. To address this, TAP has been working with leading academic groups and cell therapy companies to perform detailed risk assessments and testing and to support validation of the automation system for use in manufacturing. Scheduling software for cell line optimisation experiments TAP developed sophisticated software to manage the scheduling and operation of an automated cell line optimisation system. The scheduler tracks many thousand clones through the optimisation process, following rules for selection and expansion based on real-time data, to fully manage the process which can last many weeks. Cell growth rate is used to predict outcomes and plan consumable usage days ahead, further reducing operator workload.   Automated ion channel screening Cellectricon commissioned TAP to undertake the product development of a new generation of high throughput electrophysiology systems for patch clamp based ion channel screening. TAP's specialist engineers and biologists collaborated with microfluidics experts at Cellectricon to integrate their Dynaflow technology into an automated system, which is now commercially available via Cellectricon. Sample storage at -80°C for up to 25 years The prestigious UK Biobank project demanded ultra low temperature storage of biological specimens at a scale beyond what had ever been automated previously. TAP undertook a design study, system prototype and implementation programme, which overcame the many complex challenges of safely storing samples whilst permitting reliable robotic accessibility. The phased approach allowed the UK Biobank to proceed with confidence and has resulted in an exceptional engineering solution. Homogenising DNA samples held in storage As part of a biological sample management project for AstraZeneca, TAP developed a novel implementation of magnetic mixing which has been proven to homogenise DNA solutions without damage through shearing. Automated sample analysis The customer’s need was to monitor water content in their compound library of DMSO solutions held in microtubes. As part of an upgraded storage facility, TAP developed a novel NIR (Near InfraRed spectroscopy) system to automatically confirm sample quality each time a tube returns to the store. Integrated nano-dispensing into assay-ready plates Our customer required a system to create assay-ready plates using Acoustic Dispense units. The challenge was not only the very high throughput and capacity, but also the need to engineer the solution quickly, and to manage complex data handling and interfacing. TAP were able to adapt previous designs to create a fully integrated, robust and reliable system which was rapidly put into production. For more information on working with TAP's Advanced Projects Group, please contact us   Back to top   print page