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Automated, high-throughput recovery of nucleic acid from complex samples
Help boost your lab's productivity by integrating a workflow designed to reduce cost and hands-on sample preparation time and increase throughput. Intuitive to operate and pre-loaded with protocols, the KingFisher instruments offer automated magnetic bead-based sample preparation for DNA and RNA. Effective bead collection and transfer is designed for excellent washing, efficient elution, and rapid processing, enabling reliable high recovery and consistent performance across a range of complex samples.
Key features of KingFisher Systems
- Consistent—The unique instrument design that moves magnetic beads instead of liquids supports cleaner extractions, enabling the reproducibility of results
- Automate—Designed to save valuable time by eliminating manual steps, minimizing user process errors, and shortening overall processing times
- Convenient—Easy to set up and run, customizable to fit your lab’s needs
- Versatile—Supports more applications than most sample preparation instruments
- Supported—Backed by one of the industry’s largest networks of specialists dedicated to supporting these instruments
Typical run with KingFisher magnetic particle processing instruments
*Reagent and sample preparation time are dependent upon user and workflow needs. Run time can vary depending upon application and instrument.
Work toward higher productivity and greater consistency for bioprocessing contaminant and impurity testing. The KingFisher Systems offer:
- Automated sample prep processing
- Up to 96 extractions in a single run
- Minimal error with less hands-on time
- Consistent and reliable data, day-to-day, month-to-month
- Optimized protocols for Applied Biosystems PrepSEQ kits and resDNASEQ kits
| KingFisher instrument |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Flex | Apex | |
| Instrument size | Benchtop | Benchtop |
| Throughput level | Medium to high | Medium to high |
| Processing volume range |
|
|
| Samples per run | 96 | 96 |
| Customizable protocols | Yes, with PC software | Yes, with touchscreen or PC software |
| Heating/cooling |
|
|
| Ultraviolet lamp | No | 2 UV lamps, max 23 h 59 min |
| Size (W x D x H) | 68 x 60 x 38 cm; 26.77 x 23.6 x 14.96 in. | 78 x 59 x 45 cm; 31 x 23 x 18 in. |
| Weight | 28 kg; 62 lbs. | 56 kg; 123 lbs. |
The main differences are throughput, the number of samples per run, and the way the models handle the plates and process.
- KingFisher Flex Instrument (medium/high throughput)—the standalone laboratory workhorse, processes up to 96 samples per run; excellent choice for high-throughput SARS-CoV-2 testing
- KingFisher Apex Instrument—Similar specifications to the KingFisher Flex, but redesigned with additional capabilities for peak performance, adaptability, and usability such as a barcode scanner, a cooling block, and a UV decontamination lamp
One solution for DNA and protein impurity testing
Ensuring the safety of biologic drugs requires rapid and accurate screening methods for in-process testing during manufacturing. Automated high-throughput approaches offer the advantage of processing many samples quickly and reliably. The use of functionalized magnetic beads to capture and purify analytes of interest allows for sensitive and selective detection of target compounds. This technology has been incorporated into industry-standard PrepSEQ, resDNASEQ, and ProteinSEQ kits and is easily adaptable to a 96-well plate format. For automated sample analysis, the KingFisher Sample Purification Instruments offer a platform fully integrated with real-time PCR to quantify a broad spectrum of bioproduction impurities and contaminants using these specialized sample preparation and quantitation kits.
Technology
The KingFisher instruments, in combination with sample preparation and quantitation kits, offer turnkey solutions that address critical customer needs for sensitivity, reliability, dynamic range, and automation in the screening of biologic drugs throughout the manufacturing process.
In conjunction with PrepSEQ Residual DNA Sample Preparation Kits, the KingFisher instruments enable efficient extraction and excellent purification of DNA and RNA from complex mixtures of proteins, buffers, and salts. The special formulation of the magnetic particles provided in the PrepSEQ kit facilitates highly efficient, specific recovery of DNA with no cross-reactivity to unrelated DNA.
Move beads, not liquids, for purity and sample integrity
Manual sample preparation and sample loss can introduce inconsistencies into samples, which show up in your data as outliers and wider error bars. High-end downstream applications such as qPCR, NGS, digital PCR, and mass spectrometry can be very sensitive to these inconsistencies. KingFisher instruments help reduce user processing errors while increasing the reproducibility of your results. Our data shows that samples processed with KingFisher instruments have consistent results across different runs and different users.
Many automated liquid handling systems and purification instruments move reagents into and out of wells to perform the different steps of nucleic acid isolation. In contrast, Thermo Scientifc KingFisher Sample Purification Systems use permanent magnetic rods with disposable tip combs to collect beads from solution, then release them into successive wells, each containing reagents for the next step of isolation. This highly effective method of bead collection and transfer is designed for clean extractions, efficient results, and preservation of sample. Using a simple process (bind, wash, elute), KingFisher instruments can automate the extraction of any analyte of interest that can be bound to a bead, even from challenging samples.
Moving beads instead of liquids results in higher purity because little to no non-target organic matter or contaminants from liquid reagents are transferred from well to well. This design aims to minimize sample loss and increase yield since you can optimize your protocol so that the loss of beads with their target nucleic acids attached is minimal in solution.
Ordering information
KingFisher Apex products
KingFisher Flex products
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Residual DNA quantitation
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