Creating a Solution That Meets Your Needs

Don Whitley Scientific (DWS) has collaborated with a number of companies to create a solution that can meet our customers’ unique requirements. One way we do this is through assisting with the implementation of equipment inside workstations. This has allowed us to explore the variety of applications that our workstations can accommodate, whilst supporting our own research to broaden the usability of our equipment. A couple of examples include a TECAN Spark® and Spark-Stack™ plate stacker inside a Whitley A135 HEPA Anaerobic Workstation at the Sanger Institute, and a BioTek Epoch 2 and BioStack Microplate Stacker inside an A145 HEPA Anaerobic Workstation at Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI).

TECAN Spark® and Spark-Stack™ plate stacker inside an A135 HEPA Workstation

DWS had the opportunity to install a TECAN Spark® multimode microplate reader and a Spark-Stack™ plate stacker inside an A135 HEPA Workstation. This was specially requested by the Host Microbiota Interactions Laboratory at the Sangar Institute in Hinxton, England.

Here’s what the team had to say:

“We use the TECAN Spark + Stacker to do high-throughput phenotypic screening of anaerobic gut bacteria. For example, we can produce growth curves, investigate carbon source utilization and other nutrient requirements. This allows us to gain insight into the gut microbiota and its role in health and disease.

Communication was key during this project from start to finish and involved numerous conversations and updates between DWS, TECAN and the customer.

BioTek Epoch Microplate Spectrophotometer and BioStack Microplate Stacker inside an A145 HEPA Workstation

In addition, our team in Germany, Meintrup DWS Laborgeräte, worked on an interesting project at FLI by which a BioTek Epoch Microplate Spectrophotometer and BioStack Microplate Stacker were fitted inside an A145 HEPA Workstation.

The team at FLI were able to share more with us about their research needs and how they benefitted from this unique installation service:

“One of the main areas of research in our lab is investigating the crosstalk between the gut microbiome and host metabolites in a high-throughput manner. To support this work, we use a Whitley A145 HEPA Workstation with an integrated reader and automated stacker.

This setup enables us to perform kinetic measurements and screen a large number of samples under anaerobic conditions. We selected the BioTek Epoch Microplate Spectrophotometer and the BioTek stacker from Agilent Technologies, as this configuration allows us to work with up to 13 microplates simultaneously. It provides the capacity needed for large-scale screenings while still leaving sufficient space for sample preparation.

The system is installed in the left corner of the anaerobic chamber and is fully connected to internal power and an external PC via sealed ports on the chamber's left side. As a result, the system is fully operational within the chamber, eliminating the need to move plates in and out, thus maintaining strict anaerobic conditions.”

If you have a unique application that requires additional support, please get in touch. We are always happy to accommodate your research and enjoy learning about the various ways our workstations are used.