BioApp is a specialist provider of training, analytical support, pre-clinical method development and consultancy services covering all aspects of bioanalysis. The company partners with start-ups, pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organizations (CROs) to deliver custom-made bioanalytical solutions. BioApp was established in 2015 to fulfill a twofold purpose: training the next generation of analytical chemists in practical laboratory fundamentals, and addressing the market gap for a lab-based bioanalytical consultancy. It soon outgrew the incubator lab it had initially used, and moved into its own dedicated CRO facility in 2021, dramatically expanding the firm’s analytical capacity. This enabled the BioApp team to provide a broad spectrum of bespoke sample analysis, early-stage method development, workflow optimization and validation services in house.

Mohammed Abrar, Director and Co-founder of BioApp, described the company’s unique market position: “We are a lower throughput, niche company, and pride ourselves on solving problems that larger, higher throughput labs or office-based consultancies would not be able to. Our clients come to us because they lack the time, expertise, human resources or laboratory facilities to develop their own analytical methods, or to perform sample analysis. We also have long-standing partnerships with companies around the world to provide training to new employees in key lab techniques, helping them to understand the science behind the practical tasks they learned in university.”

The BioApp team was seeking an instrument for its new CRO lab that would streamline repetitive manual pipetting tasks for greater lab productivity, choosing the VIAFLO 96 handheld electronic pipette with a 96 channel pipetting head and 300 μl Automation GRIPTIPS® pipette tips. Mohammed outlined the process behind this decision: “I first came across the VIAFLO 96 while procuring multichannel pipettes for a consultancy client some years ago. We trialed instruments from several brands with the company’s 20 analysts over the course of one week, and INTEGRA’s solution was the unanimous favorite, due to its intuitive and user-friendly design. This positive experience meant I was keen to consider the VIAFLO 96 for our own lab, and the pipette has since proven to be a great fit for us in terms of price, footprint, functionality and ease of use.”

The group works solely with 96 well plates, and uses the VIAFLO 96 to perform repetitive, labor-intensive pipetting tasks that can be error prone and time consuming to do by hand in large batches, including sample dilutions and mixing, and extracting supernatants after centrifugation. Lab staff also use the pipette for sample loading during supported liquid extraction protocols, contributing to significant time savings. Mohammed explained: “Pipetting protocols can be intuitively and conveniently programmed into the VIAFLO 96, and this has greatly improved our productivity. Now, a whole 96 well plate can be set up in a matter of seconds. Avoiding extensive, monotonous manual pipetting also helps to safeguard employees’ mental and physical health, which is an important consideration for our company.”

The VIAFLO 96 enables the team to easily control cycle numbers and aspirate and dispense speeds, ensuring that every liquid handling step is performed exactly the same way each time. It also improves pipetting consistency by eliminating manual errors and inter-operator variability, yielding more reproducible results. In addition to the VIAFLO 96, BioApp acquired a selection of 5 single and multichannel EVOLVE manual pipettes in volumes from 2-300 μl  – which are paired with ECO rack GRIPTIPS – for handling smaller sample numbers and lower volumes, as well as for spiking samples with known concentrations of analytes in preliminary studies. Having several pipettes dedicated to different tasks in the lab helps staff to reduce the risk of cross-contamination and provides them with added flexibility and redundancy, removing some of their throughput limitations. Mohammed continued: “We enjoy working with the GRIPTIPS, as they don’t leak or fall off the manual pipettes at all. We also appreciate that they are color matched with the pipettes, so we can quickly select the right tip without having to stop and check every time. Eliminating this small extra step streamlines our liquid handling workflows on a daily basis. The color coordination also reassures us that we are using the right tip size, and helps us avoid wasting pipette tips.”

“INTEGRA’s products have proven to be extremely robust and reliable. We use them all day every day, and we’ve never experienced any problems. This has enabled us to avoid unplanned downtime, something that is important for such a small group with tight deadlines. We are confident that our pipettes will be valuable resources to us as we continue to expand our in-house analytical and method development capabilities, and diversify our client base in the years to come,” Mohammed concluded.