Control the number of tip boxes on deck
Use the One Box Per Tip Type and Allocate Extra Tip Boxes options to maximize or minimize the number of tip boxes on deck.
Maximize the number of tip boxes
By default, if your workflow requires different tip types, Synthace will only allocate one box of each tip type to the deck. When a tip box is empty, Synthace will prompt you to change it. If you would prefer Synthace to allocate multiple boxes of each tip type to the deck, turn off One Box Per Tip Type. When a tip box is empty, your liquid handler will take subsequent tips from the next one instead.
From the builder, open the Workflow Settings.
Turn off One Box Per Tip Type.
Warning: You must also turn off Allocate Extra Tip Boxes (which refers to extra boxes of the same tip type). If you turn off One Box Per Tip Type but not Allocate Extra Tip Boxes, Synthace will display an error message when you simulate your workflow.
Example: Our workflow requires two boxes of 10ul tips and two boxes of 30ul tips. By default, Synthace only allocates one box of 10ul tips to the deck, and one box of 20ul tips.
If we turn off One Box Per Tip Type, Synthace allocates both boxes of each type to the deck.
Insufficient deck space
If there is not enough space on the deck for the number of tip boxes that your workflow requires, Synthace will display an error message when you simulate the workflow.
To resolve this, use the Deck Options to allocate more tip boxes to the deck.
Tip: If you are having issues with the number of tip box sites required, turn on One Box Per Tip Type, and Allocate Extra Tip Boxes. This will allow you to simulate successfully, view the number of tips boxes needed for each tip (in the Resources tab) and account for this when configuring the workflow.
Minimize the number of tip boxes
By default, if your workflow requires multiple boxes of the same tip type, Synthace will allocate multiple tip boxes to the deck. If you would prefer Synthace to only allocate one tip box, turn off Allocate Extra Tip Boxes.
From the builder, open the Workflow Settings.
Turn on One Box Per Tip Type, but turn off Allocate Extra Tip Boxes.
Flexible Tip Loading (Tecan Fluent® Only)
For executions on the Tecan Fluent®, turn on Flexible Tip Loading to allow Fluent Control to track and load tips on its own without specific commands from Synthace. This way, if the Fluent does not pick up tips in the expected location, it will continue to iterate through the tip box until it finds them.
Do not simulate head movement
If you use a Gilson PIPETMAX®, when you simulate your workflow, Synthace will calculate the movement of the head during liquid handling. If the head will crash, the simulation will fail.
However, if you are certain that the head will not crash, Synthace can skip this calculation, which will decrease your simulation time.
Warning: This means that even if you are wrong, and the head will crash, the simulation will still succeed.
From the builder, open the Workflow Settings.
Turn on Ignore Physical Simulation.
The auto-allocation algorithm
When you simulate a workflow, the auto-allocation algorithm calculates how much of each input liquid the workflow needs.
If you have prepared your input plates in advance, Synthace compares the result to the input liquids that the workflow has. If the workflow needs more, Synthace tells you how much more. If you have not prepared your input plates in advance, Synthace tells you how much of each input liquid the workflow needs.
Versions
Like other parts of Synthace, we sometimes update the auto-allocation algorithm. This means that there are different versions.
Version | Description |
2 | This version allocates input liquids to large wells differently to other versions. Warning: We do not recommend that you select this version to simulate newer workflows. |
3 | This version uses multi-channelling differently to other versions. Warning: We do not recommend that you select this version to simulate newer workflows. |
4 | This version allocates input liquids to all plate types and considers device capacity limitations much better than other versions. |
Select an older version
By default, Synthace uses the latest version of the auto-allocation algorithm. However, if you created the workflow before we updated the auto-allocation algorithm to the latest version, you might prefer the liquid handling steps that Synthace generates if you select an older version.
From the builder, open the Workflow Settings.
From Auto-allocation Algorithm, select the version of the auto-allocation algorithm that you want to use.