My name is Huw Rees. As a member of SPT Labtech’s North American Field Application Science team, I provide expert training and application advice to users of our liquid handling solutions, including mosquito, firefly ® , and dragonfly ® . Next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation normally has several key parts, but the key steps that require liquid handling are shown below: Image Credit: SPT Labtech Almost all kits require DNA end preparation, where you modify the ends to make them suitable for sequencing.
This is followed by a clean-up step to remove enzymes and other reagents from the initial preparation step. After PCR, the next step is another clean-up before placing your samples into the sequencer. These kits are ideal for automation because they are extremely laborious and time-consuming to do by hand.
Preparing these kits manually, especially for plates, can take hours of precise, focused work and be difficult to master. Experienced lab bench workers who can perform these kits rapidly, consistently, and effectively are hard to find. Automating the process reduces the need for specialized skills and allows scientists to focus on other parts of their research.
Automated liquid handlers can pipette volumes below what a handheld pipette can manage. Sub-microliter volumes are hard to do with handheld pipettes, but automation can achieve this consistently. Miniaturizing NGS library preparation is important because it makes your money go further.
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