Rapid Accuracy and Precision Assessment of DMSO Compound Solutions Transferred with Pocket Tips

Rapid Accuracy

Abstract

Performing assays with liquid handling equipment to rapidly test and screen compounds is essential to drug discovery and other biopharma processes. In order to increase the productivity and integrity of such screenings, it is important to understand how accurately and precisely target volumes are being transferred, especially for critical and assay-specific volumes of DMSO-based compounds from compound management libraries. Accurate volume transfer is even more important for small volume transfers (nanoliter) where discrepancies or errors in transferred volume can have a huge impact on the validity of an assay. Screeners currently use many different liquid handling methods to transfer nanoliter target volumes of DMSO solutions to their assay, one of which is through the use of disposable PocketTips. In this study, the MVS® Multichannel Verification System is employed to objectively and rapidly assess PocketTip transfer performance for nanoliter target volumes of DMSO solutions into microtiter wells filled with an aqueous-based buffer (diluent). The MVS uses a dual-dye, dual-wavelength absorbance method to simultaneously measure both the accuracy and precision of volumes transferred without the need for preparing standard solutions or calibration curves. The accuracy and precision results for DMSO nanoliter volume transfers with PocketTips into 384-well microtiter plates are presented and discussed. Some of the performance results for the PocketTips are also compared for two different solution types. Because environmental exposure and/or DMSO storage conditions can result in the uptake of water, many DMSO solutions have a substantial water component. In this study, a DMSO solution with approximately 75% DMSO (vol/vol) and another with approximately 98% DMSO (vol/vol) were transferred and the performance results are compared.

View Poster