Sometimes, the order in which liquids are added to a plate is important. In this tutorial, we see how to allocate liquids to specific positions, rows and columns in a plate - using the Aliquot element.
Get started
Read the introduction to this series of tutorials, then complete all of the previous tutorials in the series. For more information, click here.
Create a workflow in the builder. To learn how, click here.
Rename the workflow Core elements tutorial 2.4. To learn how, click here.
Select the device on which you want to run your workflow. To learn how, click here.
Select a default plate type. To learn how, click here.
Define your liquids
First, you must define the liquids that you want to aliquot.
Open the Elements panel, search for Define Liquids And Plates, then click the element to add it to the canvas.
On the canvas, click the element to open a list of inputs to the element (i.e., a list of things that you can control).
From the Define From input, select Parameters to expose some inputs that you can use to define your liquids.
In the Names input, click Add New Item, then specify the name
Liquid A. Click Add New Item again, then specify the nameLiquid B.
This is the minimum requirement to define a liquid. To learn how to define a liquid in more depth, see Core elements tutorial 1.0.
Aliquot the liquids to specific wells in different directions
Open the Elements panel, search for Aliquot, then click the element to add it to the canvas.
We now need to pass the liquids that we defined in the Define Liquids And Plates element to the Aliquot element, so that the Aliquot element knows which liquids to aliquot.
To do so, click and drag the Liquids output from the Define Liquids And Plates element to the Liquids To Aliquot input of the Aliquot element.
Click the Aliquot element, then specify the Aliquot Volume for both liquids as
50 uland the number of Replicates as 12.
Tip: Use
defaultto specify the volume and number of replicates for every liquid connected to the Aliquot element.From the Replicate Grouping input, select Keep Replicates Together to expose the Used Layouts input (described in Core elements tutorial 2.5) and the Edit Plate Contents button (described in this tutorial).
Describe the plate set to which you want Synthace to allocate your aliquots. To do so, in Plate Set Names, specify a name for the plate set, then in Plate Types, select a plate type for the plates in the set.
Click Edit Plate Contents to open the Plate Contents Editor, in which you can specify which liquids should be in which wells.
Click and drag the cursor over the wells to which you want to allocate Liquid A, then click the range that Synthace displays on the right.
Specify that you want Synthace to allocate Liquid A to the selected wells, then from Well Iteration Order, select
By Column, then click Done.Repeat the previous steps to specify where you want Synthace to allocate Liquid B, but from Well Iteration Order, select
By Row, then click Done.
Simulate the workflow
Check that the device that you selected can follow the instructions that you prepared. To learn how, click here.
Preview the execution
After you simulate the workflow, click View Simulation to open the simulation details.
Open the Preview tab, then click through the steps to check that the instructions that Synthace has generated are correct.
Notice that Synthace aliquots Liquid A down the columns of the wells that you selected, and Liquid B across the rows of the wells that you selected.