News & Press Releases

HighRes Biosolutions selected by Rigel Pharmaceuticals for modular high-throughput screening automation - HighRes Biosolutions

Written by HighRes Biosolutions | Jul 12, 2010 4:00:00 AM

HighRes Biosolutions, the leader in laboratory automation solutions for life science, announced today that it will be providing high-throughput screening automation to Rigel Pharmaceuticals, a South San Francisco, California-based clinical-stage drug development company.

Rigel will perform cell-based, biochemical, and high-content screening assays against a large library of compounds on a HighRes dual NanoCell system, which includes two of HighRes’ AmbiStore high-speed carousels. The entire system is controlled by Cellario, HighRes’ powerful dynamic scheduling software.

“Our research can change quickly, and we need automation that can adapt,” said Sarkiz (Ruby) Daniel Issakani, Vice President of Rigel’s HTS group. “We want to be able to change devices like readers and dispensers quickly and easily, which we can do with HighRes. We also like the flexibility of being able to load the AmbiStore carousels in one room, and then dock them on the screening system in the next room. Easy device upgrades are another plus.”

“The precision of HighRes’ robot arm was a factor, as well as being able to remotely teach the robot using the automated teach tool,” said Daniel. “In addition, the AmbiStore carousels are fast so that will improve overall throughput. On the software side, we liked having the ability to make on-the-fly changes to the system schedule and run parameters in Cellario, without having to stop the run.”

Ira Hoffman, managing director at HighRes Biosolutions, commented, “Rigel immediately saw the advantages of HighRes’ modularity and performance. With our recent expansion of sales and support in this region, we’re excited about bringing truly flexible automation to the West Coast.”

About HighRes Biosolutions

HighRes Biosolutions, Inc. is the leader in the design and construction of innovative robotic systems and laboratory devices used by pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic research laboratories. HighRes accelerates drug discovery, high throughput genotyping, siRNA screening, next-generation sequencing sample prep, biorepository science and molecular diagnostics with highly flexible, expandable and modular integrated systems, bench-top devices and consumables that are easily configured (and reconfigured) to create research environments conducive to achieving breakthrough results.