10 reasons why INTEGRA products speed up diagnostic testing and research

Our portfolio of liquid handling products is being used across a whole host of molecular diagnostics workflows worldwide, including pharmacogenomics testing at El Paso Pain Center in the US, microRNA-based cancer diagnostics at MiRXES in Singapore, and even the development of a novel women’s health platform at US-based start-up Nanopath. There is a growing need for flexible solutions to increase productivity and improve the reproducibility of results across workflows, and our solutions are perfectly suited to helping you succeed. 

Our VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipettes are ideal for transferring patient samples between labware formats, enabling the simultaneous reformatting of multiple samples prior to nucleic acid extraction and PCR testing. For even greater flexibility and full workflow automation, electronic pipettes – including our D-ONE single channel pipetting module – can be mounted on the ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot, allowing you to streamline an array of routine pipetting tasks and scale up your workflow. The D-ONE offers hands-free transfers from individual tubes or wells on the ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot. Alternatively, the VIAFLO 96 and VIAFLO 384 handheld electronic pipettes, as well as the MINI 96 electronic 96 channel pipette, are perfect options for boosting throughput by allowing you to add buffers or samples to 96 or 384 wells simultaneously. And with the WELLJET reagent dispenser and dispenser stacker, routine testing and quality control (QC) assays can be set up rapidly, precisely and reliably.

Here are 10 reasons why these instruments are perfect for your workflows.

1. 1. High throughput, small investment

You might assume that high throughput can only be achieved with huge investment, but this simply isn’t the case with our pipetting solutions. We listen carefully to our customers, then create innovative products that increase throughput, productivity, reproducibility and ergonomics at affordable prices, ensuring a high return on investment. For example, adding our VIAFLO 96 and VIAFLO 384 handheld electronic pipettes, MINI 96 portable pipette or WELLJET reagent dispenser to a workflow is a truly cost-effective way to boost sample throughput – while maintaining accuracy and precision – reducing manual labor without the need to invest in large liquid handling platforms.

1. 2. Scale-up couldn’t be easier

Our instruments can be adapted to meet your growing throughput needs. Easily upgrade any of our multichannel electronic pipettes to full automation with our ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot. This enables you to perform more complex pipetting protocols and increase throughput, without requiring more staff or full laboratory automation with a complex liquid handling platform. Or you can switch to parallel processing of 24, 96 or 384 samples with the VIAFLO 96 and VIAFLO 384, and 96 or 384 samples with the MINI 96. To increase throughput even further, you can simply replicate the workflow on multiple cost-effective workstations running in parallel, offering even greater flexibility as your needs change.

1. 3. Simple installation

Our products couldn’t be simpler to set up. Instruments are shipped fully assembled to ensure only minimal set-up time, allowing you to go from unboxing to the first run within 15 minutes. The platforms themselves are incredibly intuitive, and many customers install and configure their own systems with ease.

1. 4. Compact and mobile workstations

All workstations can easily fit in biosafety cabinets to handle hazardous diagnostic samples in a safe environment. Additionally, the compact footprints of our platforms make them easy to move around or between labs, enabling space to be used effectively, rather than being taken up by large, bulky instruments. The MINI 96 is a truly mobile workstation that can easily be placed anywhere in the lab, from the laminar flow cabinet to small workspaces on any lab bench. The WELLJET reagent dispenser and dispenser stacker also have highly compact designs – offering the smallest footprints for instruments of their kind – while the minimal footprint of the ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot leaves maximum space for additional manual work.

1. 5. Minimize training needs

Our systems are extremely intuitive to use, and share user interfaces that are simple and easy to understand. This allows straightforward and rapid training of new and existing staff on unfamiliar workflows. Where possible, our team further helps customers with programming their applications, so that it is as simple as switching the platform on and starting work! Our free VIALAB pipetting automation software can help you to easily create automated pipetting protocols for a variety of applications, and our instruments now feature QR codes that users can scan to seamlessly access quick start guides and tutorial videos.  

1. 6. In stock and on time

Our well-planned supply chain logistics enable production to be ramped up to meet customers’ requirements, so instruments are available with very short lead times of a few weeks. We make a commitment to guarantee consumable availability when a customer purchases an INTEGRA instrument, and this was even upheld during the significant challenge of the COVID-19 crisis. The supply of GRIPTIPS^® pipette tips was assured throughout the global pandemic, and we have increased our in-house tip production capabilities to ensure preparedness for any future surge in tip demand.

1. 7. A reliable system

Sample contamination is every lab’s worst nightmare. That’s why our GRIPTIPS^® pipette tips were designed to work with our pipettes to create a unique, integrated system that offers the securest tip connection, guaranteed to load liquid at the same height in multichannel pipettes. The rim of each of the GRIPTIPS^® pipette tips snaps over the multi-lobe fitting to attach firmly, while an integrated shoulder prevents over-tightening of the tip. This gives INTEGRA pipette users complete peace of mind, and allows for increased walkaway time without concerns over tip placement integrity when using automated platforms such as the ASSIST PLUS. Never fear about loose, leaking or falling off tips again! For rapid bulk reagent dispensing, the WELLJET’s peristaltic pump technology and non-contact dispensing minimize the risk of contamination, providing users with added reassurance and confidence in their end results.

1. 8. Worry-free servicing

Our reliable servicing and maintenance options cover calibration, repair and preventative maintenance. We offer both on-site and send-in servicing by highly trained technicians, ensuring your instruments run smoothly over the course of their lifetime to take another worry off your mind. We can even promise a replacement instrument – for the VIAFLO 96, VIAFLO 384, MINI 96, ASSIST PLUS and WELLJET – within 48 hours with some on-site servicing programs, offering truly stress-free pipetting.

1. 9. Independent platforms

Our open pipetting platforms enable kits from different suppliers to be used for different workflows. For instance, it doesn’t matter whether an extraction protocol is based on vacuum filtration or magnetic beads. It also means that changing the labware format – for example from 96 to 384 well plates – can be done easily. This highly flexible offering ensures that the workflow is not disrupted because of issues such as kit shortages. We have also developed an application database to share user knowledge and experience of using INTEGRA products with the wider scientific community. This database covers a broad spectrum of life sciences applications, including proteomics, microbiology and drug discovery.

1. 10. Agility to turn to any task

Our flexible systems can be used in a broad range of lab tasks – such as cell culture, assay set-up, NGS or PCR – thanks to their intuitive use and low running costs. This ensures our wide portfolio of manual and automated pipetting solutions will never be sitting in the corner, obsolete between workflows. Our products can provide a lab true flexibility, and we can offer something to simplify every application. See which products could help you.

Further reading: Speeding up molecular diagnostics for antimicrobial resistance tests