Electronic Pipetting for Toxicology Testing and Treatment

SaVida Health is using a MINI 96 portable electronic pipette and a VIAFLO 96 handheld electronic pipette from Integra Biosciences to tackle supply and functionality issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These systems have enabled the healthcare provider to semi-automate sample preparation and speed up its workflow, getting results to practitioners faster and contributing to improved patient care.

SaVida Health provides holistic outpatient substance addiction treatment services, with around 40 rehabilitation clinics across five states in the east of the US. The company’s in-house lab tests up to 10,000 patient urine samples a month, for both substances of abuse and prescribed medicines. These regular screenings help doctors to tailor treatment plans to the needs of each individual as soon as possible, giving them an upper hand in beating their addiction.

The pandemic put a huge strain on supply chains, and SaVida Health experienced issues with obtaining the pipette tips required for sample preparation. The lab therefore acquired a MINI 96 and VIAFLO 96 to semi-automate sample preparation. Dr John Thomas, Clinical Laboratory Director at SaVida Health, said: “We were able to easily adjust the parameters on both the MINI 96 and the VIAFLO 96 to our workflows, getting them into routine operation quickly so that we could avoid wasting patient samples or solvents.”

The team was so impressed with the high level of accuracy and precision of these platforms, that it has also recently bought three of Integra’s 8 channel VIAFLO electronic pipettes, and now sources its GripTip pipette tips directly from Integra. “We are also purchasing an Integra ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot in the near future to further automate our repetitive sample preparation steps and give staff more walk-away time,” John continued. “Currently, our sample preparation takes approximately two hours, but with the ASSIST PLUS, it will take as little as 40 minutes from start to finish. The volume of samples we need to process will continue to go up as we open new sites, and we are confident that Integra’s platforms can increase our lab’s capacity to meet this need.”

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