LogoIllustration

Software

NPC8:   Nano-PlotterTM NP1.2
NPC16: Nano-PlotterTM NP2.x

Features

  • Set up devices, speed, pipette head, video sources, and much more
  • Complete interactive control of all devices: move pipette head, fill or empty fluid system, wash pipettes, start/stop pipetting, optimize parameters, etc.
  • Create your personal work space by placing slides, microplates, and other objects on the deck in a graphical manner
  • Define spot layouts (size, pitches, number of droplets) easily, including sub-arrays
  • Run standard programs shipped with the instrument (see below)
  • Write your own spotting procedures: the Nano-Plotter Language is powerful but easy-to-learn, with access to all work plate objects and hardware features
  • Check your programs in simulation mode
  • Run programs directly from a menu or step by step in a debugging environment
 

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Screenshot of NPC16

 

NPC8/16 includes an application development tool similar to a high-level computer language (NPL = Nano-Plotter Language). NPL scripts offer control and feedback from current work plate settings as well as through user interface input screens. The NPCx software functions allow accessing all hardware components, including image processing system of Nano-PlotterTM 2.x.

Standard NPL-Programs

These pipetting programs are bundled with each instrument. After you set up number, position, and position of your slides and defined your array grids, you can start printing right away. They should be suitable for more than 90 % of typical pipetting needs.

Standard Pipetting Schemes

 

 
Sequential mode: several pipettes in parallel aspirate samples from a microplate, but each pipette operates independently, i.e., the head moves for each spot printed (“drop on demand”). This mode is extremely flexible (no need to re-pipet microtiter plates), but slower.

  • One-to-one sequential transfer of a microplate (or a part thereof) to a microarray, including replicates (See illustration)
  • Totally arbitrary assignment of samples in MTP wells to spots on the array (on the basis of a “transfer list”), including different numbers of drops per spot (See Illustration)
  • Repair of arrays when pipettes fail to work (Strobocheck )

Simultaneous mode: all pipettes take up sample and print simultaneously, as in pintool arrayers. This method is less flexible than the sequential mode, but much faster, especially when you use 16 pipettes. Each pipet prints a subarray (Block), spaced at the pipet's distance.

  • Arrangement of spots in the subarrays in accordance to the pipet head layout and the MTP layout (See illustration) 
  • Assignment of samples in MTP wells (Pipet 1) to spots in the subarray of pipet 1 (Not illustrated)
  • Works for one or more MTPs defined on the deck, but also for multiple plates from a plate handler
  • Spot of replicates possible
  • Full (and easy-to-use) repair available for missing spots, as in sequential mode (Strobocheck )
  • Creation of GAL files according to the pipetting scheme