Miniaturised lab automation for bead-based nucleic acid clean-up in Next-Generation Sequencing

Library preparation for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) requires nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) purification steps that are tedious and error prone if performed manually. Existing automation solutions are expensive, slow, difficult to adapt to different workflows (frequently required especially in R&D laboratories), require large instruments and are prone to sample loss.

The goal of the MiniLib project is to develop a novel miniaturised and easy-to-use automated liquid handling solution for nucleic acid clean-up steps in NGS workflows. Therefore, MiniLib responds to a market demand for more flexible and modular automation solutions than the existing large scale all-in-one systems, for which adaptations in the workflow are possible, but cost and labour intensive.