The QPIX 400 systems: Next generation robotic microbial colony pickers with enhanced software and colony selection features

The QPix 400 series of robotic microbial colony picking platforms are members of the Molecular Devices product line that provides state-of-the-art automated solutions for the genomics, proteomics, industrial microbiology and biofuels community. The entire workflow from colony selection to picking can be automated using the advanced QPix 400 series leading to reduced timelines and increasing overall productivity for a variety of laboratory applications. The application driven software makes it easy to keep track of operations and sample history throughout the workflow. Using QPix software analysis tools, each colony is interrogated for size, compactness, proximity to neighboring colonies, and fluorescence intensity.Objective, quantitative, identification combined with high accuracy picking, ensures the right colony is picked every time with the aid of these user defined selection criteria.

The QPIX systems are a powerful tool for high-throughput analysis and selection of microbial colonies expressing fluorescent proteins and offer the unique option to simultaneously detect colonies and quantify fluorescent markers in a pre-screening step using a combination of white light and fluorescent imaging, enabling quantitative identification and selection of colonies of interest. In addition, with our new version of QPix software released in January 2014, a new suite of life science tools enables researchers to automate the following applications: e.g., Blue/white bacterial colony selection, phage-plaque picking and halo/clearing zone of inhibition detection.

With the aid of QPIX 400 system and enhanced software features, a broad range of biological applications can be readily automated such as gene/protein expression, protein folding and secretion studies, enzyme evolution, mutational screens, biofuel research, phage display, DNA sequencing, library generation and management.