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    firefly FAQs

    Find out all you need to know about firefly and firefly+ in one place. 

    We have been answering this common question about cross-contamination since we launched our dragonfly non-contact dispensing systems several years ago. Our dragonfly has been widely adopted during the pandemic for mastermix dispensing in sensitive qPCR and Covid-Seq protocols. It has undergone much scrutiny to prove that its dispensing doesn't result in splashing that could lead to well-to-well contamination.

    We' have continued to test this with firefly and have extensive data showing no evidence of cross contamination.

    Yes. firefly is designed with both LIMS and integrators in mind. Depending on your workflow that could just be a simple file transfer, e.g. tracking samples via input and output files such as a CSV file, or large-scale integration with software control via the integrated robot. We're working with a number of integration companies to refine the API on an ongoing basis. Please reach out to us for more information on this, SiLA compatibility, etc. In terms of hardware, the side panels can be removed to provide robot access from either side or the front of the instrument.

    Yes. The dispense side is very flexible. You have complete control over the dispense motor, which is independent for each of the syringes. You could use a single syringe to work across a plate with different volumes to get different concentrations. Or, if you want to do it faster, you can aspirate a common reagent across all 6 tips to dispense different volumes to different wells simultaneously.

    The non-contact dispenser gives you a powerful way of setting up gradients or running normalizations. You can use a CSV file to deliver a different diluent volume to each well. Using this approach, you get different final volumes, with the sample volume kept constant and just the diluent volume varied. It's a very fast process - the variable diluent volume can be added in as little as 30 seconds if all 6 syringes are used, and in a little over 3 minutes if only 1 dispense syringe is used.

    The on-deck heating blocks are designed for incubation only. 

    An optional expansion unit, firefly+, integrates an on-deck thermocycler in 96 or 384-well format to support end-to-end automated NGS and PCR workflows.

    For 96-well plates, we typically have a dead volume of less than 2µL and less than 1µL in 384-well PCR plates. This is based on aspirating from the well in order to transfer liquid into another well. It's slightly different in the case of a bead clean-up. Here we can over-aspirate from a well and leave the well virtually dry – the aspirate would then typically be put to a waste plate, so accurate dispensing and air bubbles are not a concern in this scenario. In terms of magnetic beads, these are usually isolated part way up the well, so that virtually all the waste liquid can be removed without disturbing the beads.

    This depends on your application. It can run a non-contact dispense across an entire 96-well plate in as little as 30 seconds. The 96 pipetting head can then perform a tip load, plus sample transfer, in around 30 seconds. Let us know about your application, so we can give you a more specific throughput estimation.

    Feedback from customers has been very positive about the potential benefits of sharing and collaborating in a community of users. Users that share protocols will do so in the good faith that others will also share, and all will benefit. Only time will tell how successful this will be, but we are highly optimistic of success in this area.

    There's a small wetting volume in the syringes themselves of about 15µL (including an over-aspirate as a safety margin). There's a minimum volume in the reservoirs to ensure bubble-free aspiration. For a standard reservoir, the dead volume is 240µL, of which 230µL is recoverable from the reservoir. There's also a low dead volume (LDV) reservoir with a dead volume of 75uL, of which 55uL is recoverable. These numbers represent the default settings for robust operation, but it's possible to improve them further with careful optimization.

    We recommend minimum Windows 10. The software is open license and can be installed on any Windows device that enables users to author protocols anywhere and send to the system remotely. The software can also be operated on a Mac using Parallels, so protocols can be written off-line (the instrument must be controlled by a windows device – a Windows tablet is included, or, alternatively, an external PC can be used).

    Yes, a documented verification process is available at time of purchase to record that the instrument has been correctly delivered, installed and configured. By choosing to do this with us, you can significantly reduce the start-up time required to document an install, with the confidence of fully trained firefly engineer.

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