ACAPELLA-1K, a capillary-based submicroliter automated fluid handling system for genome analysis

The Genomation Laboratory in the Electrical Engineering Department at the U niversity of Washington has been developing an automated, high-throughput, submicroliter-scdle fluid-handling system for use in molecular biology, esp ecially as part of the Human Genome Project:and other high-throughput DNA s equencing endeavors. Small glass capillaries enable the preparation, handli ng, and monitoring of 1-mu l reaction volumes. The Genomation Laboratory, w ith corporate partners: Orca Photonic Systems, Inc. and Engineering Arts, h as developed modules for aspiration, dispensing, mixing, transport, and rap id thermal processing of biological samples contained in glass capillaries. The ACAPELLA-1K is the first integration of these modules, designed to pro cess 1000 samples in an eight-hour day. It has served as a test bed For the technologies as well as for performing biological experiments in conjuncti on with the University of Washington Genome Center. This system and related results are presented in this-paper. A video of the system in operation is provided at http://www.genome.org. The Genomation Laboratory:is presently developing the next-stage ACAPELLA-5K system based on the results of the AC APELLA-1K system.