FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. - BD, a global medical technology company, and Opentrons Labworks, recognized for accessible lab automation with more than 10,000 robotic systems deployed, have announced a multi-year collaboration. Together, BD and Opentrons will integrate robotic liquid-handling capabilities into BD single-cell multiomics instruments, automating critical experimental steps to accelerate and scale disease research and drug development.
Ranga Partha, PhD, VP/GM of Global Marketing and Strategic Growth Areas, BD Biosciences, said, "By revealing the multiple layers of biological information within cells, the field of single-cell multiomics is quickly transforming research in oncology, immunology and beyond – and automation can further accelerate adoption especially in translational and biopharma settings. By integrating robotics with our instruments – including the BD Rhapsody HT Xpress System which enables million-cell studies – we are helping scientists access potentially life-changing insights with greater speed, scale and reproducibility."
The companies intend to integrate the BD Rhapsody System with the Opentrons Flex platform, as well as develop verified protocols, allowing scientists to perform hands-free workflows with their single-cell multiomics experiments. A cornerstone of the collaboration is the development of an automation-compatible module for the BD Rhapsody System that will enable the steps of next-generation sequencing library preparation and cell capture to be automated.
James Atwood, PhD, CEO of Opentrons Labworks, said, "This collaboration brings together the long-standing expertise of BD in the field of single-cell multiomics with the flexible and open automation ecosystem of Opentrons. By combining our hardware platforms, we are making it easier and more cost-effective for labs everywhere, across basic and translational research, to perform cutting-edge single-cell sequencing at scale."
