Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine are streamlining their search for novel degenerative neurological disease biomarkers with Integra Biosciences’ Voyager adjustable tip spacing pipettes. The Roberts Lab is developing a simple blood test to screen for the presence of protein and metalloprotein biomarkers of disorders such as Alzheimer’s, ALS and Parkinson’s, with the aim of accelerating trial recruitment and drug development for these diseases.
The pipettes offer automatic tip spacing at the touch of a button, allowing researchers to aliquot all kinds of samples – blood, CSF, brain tissue, etc. – seamlessly between different labware formats. Anne Roberts, Senior Lab Manager, explained: “Voyager pipettes have been a complete gamechanger for us, increasing our processing rate from 300 to 2,200 samples per day, without affecting accuracy. We process samples from multiple cohorts around the world, which tend to arrive in containers of all shapes and sizes, and being able to adjust the tip span of the pipettes to accommodate this has saved us hours upon hours of pipetting. Crucially, we are now able to do this as soon as samples arrive in the lab, avoiding excessive freeze-thaw cycles to minimize degradation and retain sample quality.”
“Without fail, once staff from other labs try our pipettes, they purchase one for themselves,” Roberts continued. “They can’t believe they ever made do without one, and of course, we completely agree."
