Since its foundation in 1983, Octapharma has been committed to patient care and medical innovation. Its core business is the development and production of human proteins from human plasma and human cell-lines.

The VPV Department has been set-up to investigate pathogen inactivation and removal steps along the manufacturing processes. Among other techniques, multi-step 96-well format PCR assays were developed, which involve three washing steps twice in the protocol. To undertake their PCR assay more efficiently, Octapharma sought a system that enabled reproducible and accurate liquid handling in the 96-well format and was able to completely remove residual liquid as well as avoid well-to-well contamination.

Dr. Andreas Volk, a research scientist at Octapharma Biopharmaceuticals commented "The classical liquid handling solutions, fully automated robots or ELISA plate washers, were either too costly or prone to cross contamination in a PCR assay".  He added "When we tested the INTEGRA 96-channel pipettor (VIAFLO 96), it fully met our requirements as it enabled medium-throughput liquid handling while minimizing cross-contamination. Additionally, the VIAFLO 96 electronic pipette provided all the adjustment options, which we had been used to with manual pipettes, plus a specified tip immersion depth for each pipetting step. With our PCR protocol, which involves ten full liquid transfers per plate, we now only use half the amount of pipette tips as we can use the same tips for liquid addition and -aspiration in each washing step. VPV Department staff has found using the VIAFLO 96 benchtop pipettor highly intuitive and the overall time required for our PCR washing procedures has been reduced to approximately one third of the original time".

The INTEGRA VIAFLO 96 is a HANDHELD 96-CHANNEL ELECTRONIC PIPETTE that has struck a chord with scientists looking for fast, precise and easy simultaneous transfer of 96 samples from microplates without the cost of a fully automated system. The VIAFLO 96 was designed to handle just like a standard handheld pipette - a fact borne out by consistent end user feedback that no special skills or training are required to operate it. Users immediately benefit from the increased productivity delivered by their VIAFLO 96. Fast replication or reformatting of 96 and 384 well plates and high precision transferring of reagents, compounds and solutions to or from microplates with the VIAFLO 96 is as easy as pipetting with a standard electronic pipette into a single tube. Four pipetting heads with pipetting volumes up to 12.5 µl, 125 µl, 300 µl or 1250 µl are available for the VIAFLO 96. These pipetting heads are interchangeable within seconds enabling optimal matching of the available volume range to the application performed. For 384-well pipetting an enhanced version is available with VIAFLO 384. It features 384-channel pipetting heads in the volume range of 12.5 µl and 125 µl and is compatible with 96-channel pipetting heads.

Further reading: 

• eBook: How to become a PCR pro
• The top variables that can make or break your PCR success