Frequently Asked Questions:

Yes, SOLO 1327 is designed to perform protein purification at the temperature of your choice. It is a common practice to perform protein purification at 4 degree, but it may not be the most optimal temperature for purifying a protein of your interest. Now you can perform purification at the temperature of your choice to find the most optimal temperature for a protein of your interest.  Widely the notion to purify protein at 4 degree originated due to lack of infrastructure (other than cold room/cold cabinet), minimize protease and protein denaturation activities. With the advancement of protease inhibitors, purification at elevated temperature may be helpful to find a stable thermal-isoforms of protein as well as removing deterrent contaminants. You can connect your temperature-controlled chiller to SOLO 1327 and purify protein at the temperature of your choice, no longer limited to only 4 degree or room temperature.

Yes. SOLO 1327 is designed on the concept of the freedom fraction collection. In contrast to most of the available fraction collectors in the market, freedom fraction collector can move forward as well as backward. In fact, the amount of each individual fraction is customizable so that each individual fraction can be collected between a single drop and 15 ml volume.

Freedom fraction collector is built into SOLO 1327, and it can allow the collection of both flow-through and eluted fraction on the same fraction collector. A larger volume of lysate flow-through or wash flow-through can be collected in multiple 15 ml tube for further analysis or down-stream processing or purification. A smaller volume of eluted protein can be collected in the same fraction collector. Fraction collections can be done in any order for ease of handling.

In contrast to conventional protein purification systems, SOLO 1327 does not use a rotatory multi-port selection valve system or parallel multiple piston syringe for selecting reagents. That’s why there is no complex plumbing structure associated with maintaining and connecting 13 influent reagents. SOLO 1327 is built on one port mediated selection sipper concept. Therefore, 13 samples or reagents are simply placed at pre-assigned locations, and rest is taken care of by SOLO 1327.  One port mediated selection sipper has eliminated numerous plumbing associated maintenance and operational issues as well as it saves priming time and amount of reagent. SOLO 1327 has visible and easy accessible plumbing connections. In fact , SOLO 1327 can handle up to 13 intake reagents using just a single plumbing connection.

Most proteins like  a slower transition in their micro-environment during purification.  A drastic change in the micro-environment leads to loss of function due to the denaturation of the protein.   Most purifications require about eight essential buffers such as Lysis Buffer, Matrix Activation Buffer, Matrix Equilibration Buffer, High Salt Buffer, Ligand Compatible Buffer, Ligand Elution Buffer, Matrix Elution Buffer, and Matrix Storage Buffer. Despite the known significance of slow micro-environment transition mediated protein-folding for harnessing optimal protein function, only a limited number of buffers remain in practice due to a lack of user-friendly liquid handling assistance for protein purification.  SOLO 1327 provides a room for five new slow transition buffers to the user without adding an extra burden of plumbing.

SOLO 1327 is is built to use minimal amount of lab space. A devoted computer tethered to the protein purification system kills working benchtop space in the laboratory as well as minimize the use of this laboratory bound computer for other purposes; therefore, this approach is not friendly to space and budget.  In the case of SOLO 1327, the GUI software on Windows desktop can generate a robot file according to user-defined parameters for a purification protocol. The robot file can be transferred to a small microSD card, and it is physically inserted into the SOLO 1327 robot to perform automated liquid handling tasks. This arrangement allows SOLO 1327 to operate efficiently without tethered to a desktop computer.  Robotic files on the microSD card can be shared between robots and users too.

No. There is no need to learn any programming languages or coding skills to operate SOLO 1327. The built-in programs into the back end of user-friendly Graphic User Interface (GUI) does all the programming work. The user only generates protocols by filling the location information for influent samples or buffers and fraction collection tubes for effluent and value for pumping time .

In case of a lack of influent sample or buffer in the reservoir, the smart liquid sensor prevents forced entry of air into the column matrix by stopping the pump and sipper moves to the next step without wasting time. If desired, smart liquid sensor features can be easily switched off by a user. In contrast to other automated protein purification systems, SOLO 1327 detects the level of a solution in the reservoir itself instead of tubing, avoiding air in the tubing.

No. Unlike most automated liquid handlers, SOLO 1327 does not need special plastic ware to store sample or buffer. SOLO 1327 readily accepts standard 50 ml tube for influent sample or buffer solution and 15ml tube for effluent fraction collection. Use of nonproprietary consumables reduce operating cost too.

SOLO 1327 provides freedom to access any influent sample or buffer and effluent fraction in any order and any volume through GUI. In case of a need of copious volume of the same influent sample or effluent solution, it can be housed in two tubes at any location, and an automated selection sipper can aspirate solution from or dispense to there per the user-defined protocol.

Companion robot thrives in a robot friendly environment, here robots can do mundane, repetitive, and rules bound task whereas; human beings can do other knowledge based value added work. In contrast to robots, human beings are prone to generate a high error rate in mundane and repetitive task-oriented environments. The protein purification is a human-initiated, repetitive, rules-driven process. SOLO 1327 belongs to a class of companion robots, companion robots focused instruments that eliminate or reduces error, operating costs and increases productivity by freeing technologists and scientists to pursue high value work at the same time.

Simply plug in your peristaltic pump into a provided power socket in SOLO 1327. Make sure that the peristaltic pump is always in ON mode all the time during operation. Power socket turns ON and OFF automatically according to the user-defined protocol. Some peristaltic pumps possess an automation compatible TTL signal loop connection at the back of the unit to keep the pump in ON mode always.

SOLO 1327 is built following a composite configuration. In a conventional modular configuration, many functions are built as an independent unit, and they are integrated into one system. The composite configuration is a holistic one unit concept over multiple individual modular units. SOLO 1327 is operated by effective and efficient use of a mono processor, which means one job is done at one time but quickly rather multitasking at the same time. This strategy has eliminated  the need for a full-time, high-powered, tethered, and multi-processor host desktop computer to the system. Adding Z coordinate to XY coordinate has provided an extraordinary power to gantry; therefore, the selector sipper can move faster from one point to another point in one plane as well as up and down for aspirating solution. The function of a cold cabinet  is provided to the only needed portion (sample, buffer and collected fraction) instead of the whole system making it convenient for the operator. Fraction collector is built around the main deck and operated by same mono processor. These strategies have allowed SOLO 1327 to save a significant amount of space, time, and cost.

Protein purification is a continuous process. Multiple solutions are sequentially applied to the column matrix in a continuous manner. Contamination is minimized by keeping the process running in one direction in a narrow tubing. Sanity shake feature allows the selector sipper to wait and discard hanging drops followed by shaking off remnant solution before aspirating the next solution. In a particularly sensitive situation, an intermediate buffer solution can also be introduced between two vulnerable or cross-reacting  solutions to eliminate or minimize amount of carrying over.

Graphic User Interface (GUI) is self-explanatory and friendly to the user.  A 45 minutes of training is required that includes 15 minutes of tutorial video watching followed by 30 minutes of hands-on practice. You will also receive a couple of example protocols for test runs to help with protocol editing skills.

It takes approximately 45 minutes to unbox and set up SOLO 1327. All parts come pre-assembled; just it is a matter of placing them together per instructions.

It takes around 12 minutes to create a purification protocol and transferring the robot file to a microSD card. Another 8 minutes to place microSD card, influent sample and buffers, and empty fraction collection tubes for effluent into SOLO 1327 to initiate the protocol. Typically, 20 minutes of hands-on time is required and rest is done by the robot.