Automated buffy coat isolation on Tecan’s Freedom EVO®

Tecan and IBBL (Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg) have successfully co-developed an automated platform for buffy coat extraction based on a Freedom EVO® 200 workstation, relieving scientific staff from performing this time-consuming task, and significantly increasing the yield of DNA.

The process of manually isolating the buffy coat from whole blood is traditionally slow, tedious and very dependent on the skill and dexterity of the technician separating the layers. This lengthy and variable element of sampling has been eliminated by automating the procedure on a Freedom EVO 200 platform, optimised to maximise the yield and quality of the buffy coat and minimise the risk of cross-¬contamination.

Fay Betsou, Chief of Biospecimen Science at IBBL, explained: “The Freedom EVO’s Liquid Handling (LiHa) Arm pipettes the buffy coat layer with very precise orientation and speed, standardising the process and eliminating technician-to-technician variation. This gives a purer buffy coat product, with less contamination from red blood cells and haemoglobin and a similar distribution of white blood cells. The results are amazing; the DNA yield is 10¬-15% higher using the automated process, and the Freedom EVO system can process 24 samples in just 16 minutes. We are very satisfied with the system, and are looking forward to working with Tecan on another biospecimen research project in the near future.”