To use the cherry picker, you specify the locations of the liquids that you want to transfer and the locations of the wells to which you want to transfer them. You might want to do this if you have multiple plates that contain many liquids, but you only want to use some of them in a workflow.
Creating a cherry pick workflow from scratch
To open up the cherry picker, first click on the Workflows tab on the left hand side of your screen.
Click on New Workflow and then select Cherry Picker.
Defining a pick list in Synthace
Creating a workflow from the Cherry Picker directly opens up the Cherry Pick UI. This allows you to manually generate the pick list or list of transfers between the source plate and the destination plate.
First, select a source plate by clicking on Plate Type. This allows you to choose a plate from your Synthace Plate Types library.
Select the destination plate you would like to cherry pick to by clicking Plate Type under Destination Plate.
Fill out the Pick List by specifying the initial location, volume, and name of the liquid on the source plate and the transfer volume and well location on the destination plate. Optionally, specify a liquid policy to describe the properties of the liquid transfer. To learn more about liquid policies, please click here.
Click on Add Transfer to add additional transfers to the pick list.
Synthace allows you to preview your picklist by coloring the wells used in the source plate and destination plate. Synthace will use the same color for liquids of the same name. Different colors indicate a different liquid name.
Toggle to the Settings tab. This allows you to change the execution mode of your workflow and define other settings such as optimize transfer order and tip types. Once your workflow is ready, click the purple Simulate button on the lower right hand corner of your screen.
The workflow simulation will appear in the lower right hand corner of your screen. Click on View to preview your cherry-picker workflow.
Once the simulation details have opened, go to the Preview tab and toggle through each step to see the step-by-step simulation of the workflow.
Defining a picklist from a CSV upload
Synthace additionally allows you to define your picklist outside of Synthace in a CSV file. Synthace will use the information defined within the file to create the picklist. This method is best suited to anyone who wants to use another piece of software to plan their cherry-pick.
To download a template CSV file, click on the 3 dots on the right-hand corner of your screen and select Download CSV template pick list. This will download a CSV template to fill out and re-upload back to Synthace.
Fill in the CSV File and save your changes
Re-upload the edited CSV file by clicking on the three dots and select Upload CSV template pick list.
The Synthace pick list will now follow the picklist set in the CSV. Select the source and destination plate to see a plate-based view of what the source and destination plate will look like.
Adjust the settings as needed and simulate the workflow. Preview the workflow in the Simulation details to view the workflow step-by-step.
Hint: To view all of the transfers that went into one destination well, click on the well of interest. Synthace highlights all liquid transfers and shows all liquids present in the well.
Using the cherry picker in the workflow builder
If you wish to add a cherry pick step in a Synthace workflow, use the Cherry Pick From Well to Well element. The element can be used to create a destination plate that can be used further downstream in a Synthace workflow.
Define the picklist in the Cherry Pick From Well to Well element, either by editing with the cherry picker UI or uploading from a CSV table.
Sometimes you may wish to add a cherry-picker step at the end of your Synthace workflow. The easiest way to do this is to first complete building the workflow in Synthace and simulate it. Go to the Resources tab of the Simulation details page and find the CSV file for the plate you wish to use as the source plate for your cherry-pick.
Download the file and copy the relevant source plate information to the CSV template picklist. Upload the file, and the picklist will contain the exact information of the final state of the source plate from its last Synthace simulation.