Integra Assist Plus
Flexible Automation for Compound and Plate Preparation
The INTEGRA ASSIST PLUS is a compact, user-friendly automated pipetting platform designed to simplify and automate routine liquid-handling tasks. At the Fisher Drug Discovery Resource Center, it is particularly useful for preparing compound plates and other customized assay layouts.
Applications in Drug Discovery
The Assist Plus can be used for a variety of plate-preparation workflows, including:
- Cherry-picking screening hits from source plates into new assay plates
- Creating custom compound arrangements for follow-up studies
- Preparing concentration-response arrays for dose-response and IC₅₀ experiments
- Automating repetitive pipetting and plate-transfer operations
- Preparing assay plates for downstream screening and characterization
Because the system can be programmed for different plate layouts and liquid-handling workflows, it is especially useful when experiments require customized arrangements rather than standardized, high-volume dispensing.
Advantages
The Assist Plus combines automation with a relatively simple and accessible user interface. Its ease of use makes it practical for researchers who need to automate individual workflows without requiring extensive programming or specialized automation expertise.
For the Fisher Drug Discovery Resource Center, the system provides a flexible bridge between manual pipetting and more complex robotic automation, allowing researchers to automate repetitive tasks while retaining control over experimental design.
It is particularly valuable for hit follow-up, where compounds identified in a primary screen need to be reorganized, replicated, serially diluted, or arranged into customized concentration-response plates.