An automated liquid handling system for polymerase chain reaction sample preparation

An automated liquid handling system for dispensing liquid samples of sub-microliter volume has been developed. The system has eight nozzles composed of glass capillaries connected to syringe-style pumps. The distance between the nozzles can be changed from 4.5 to 9 mm, which corresponds to the distance between the wells in 96- and 384-well microplates, respectively. The eight nozzles of the system can aspirate and dispense liquid samples in both 96- and 384-well microplates. Sub-microliter volumes of reagents and samples were transferred between 96- and 384-well microplates using the system. This system was successfully used for PCR sample preparation.