Conception through build of an automated liquids processing system for compound management in a low-humidity environment.

Boehringer Ingelheim's Automated Liquids Processing System (ALPS) in Ridgefield, Connecticut, was built to accommodate all compound solution-based operations following dissolution in neat DMSO. Process analysis resulted in the design of two nearly identical conveyor-based subsystems, each capable of executing 1400 × 384-well plate or punch tube replicates per batch. Two parallel-positioned subsystems are capable of independent execution or alternatively executed as a unified system for more complex or higher throughput processes. Primary ALPS functions include creation of high-throughput screening plates, concentration-response plates, and reformatted master stock plates (e.g., 384-well plates from 96-well plates). Integrated operations included centrifugation, unsealing/piercing, broadcast diluent addition, barcode print/application, compound transfer/mix via disposable pipette tips, and plate sealing. ALPS key features included instrument pooling for increased capacity or fail-over situations, programming constructs to associate one source plate to an array of replicate plates, and stacked collation of completed plates. Due to the hygroscopic nature of DMSO, ALPS was designed to operate within a 10% relativity humidity environment. The activities described are the collaborative efforts that contributed to the specification, build, delivery, and acceptance testing between Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the automation integration vendor, Thermo Scientific Laboratory Automation (Burlington, ON, Canada).