Automated Powder Dispensing for High-Throughput Experimentation (HTE)

Accurate weighing of small quantities of powders is an important step in many laboratory workflows but is often a bottleneck. How can powder dispensing efficiency be improved?

The new "ETC Powder Dispensing Study" describes a benchmarking study conducted by the Enabling Technologies Consortium™ (ETC), a collaboration of world leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Powder dispensing is a common step in most laboratory R&D applications, but the ability to accurately dispense small amounts of a diverse range of powders for high-throughput experimentation (HTE) is currently a big challenge.

A working group of five ETC member companies (Pfizer, GSK, AZ, Merck and BMS) compared the performance of four commercially available automated powder dispensing systems, in order to assess their suitability for use in high-throughput pharma and biotech R&D workflows. Seven challenging reference substances were carefully selected to represent the diverse range of powder characteristics encountered in a typical R&D laboratory. Dispensing of 2 – 50 mg was carried out on an open bench or within various containment devices (fume hood, purge box, glove box, LEV). Parameters of dispense accuracy and speed were measured.

The results of the ETC powder dispensing study were presented at Pittcon in March 2018 and published in Org. Process Res. Dev. in October 2018.

Key Strengths of Quantos technology for HTE

The "ETC Powder Dispensing Study" highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each of the automated platforms tested. The results demonstrate that METTLER TOLEDO Quantos was highly capable of being used to ease the bottlenecks in high-throughput workflows. The key strengths of Quantos dosing technology were: 1) its ability to accurately and reliably dispense of all powder types tested, even at the lowest target weights; 2) its versatility (and safety benefits) to be capable of dispensing in a variety of laboratory environments or containment systems, with minimal effect on the robustness of the weighing results obtained; 3) its intuitiveness and ease-of-use, as excellent results were obtained using one dosing head, with no complex set-up, optimization of parameters, or selection of the right dosing head required for use with a particular type of powder.

With the recently enhanced flexibility to integrate the well-established dispensing technology into an automated platform capable of handling SBS well plate tubes, Quantos is well-suited for use in high-throughput laboratory applications, such as screening, route scouting and solubility/stability testing. Ease the bottleneck and increase productivity in your laboratory by automating the powder dispensing steps in your screening, chemical development, formulation, and capsule filling applications.

For further information, download the case study or contact us.