Thermo Fisher and Artificial to develop automation platform for COVID-19 testing

Thermo Fisher Scientific and Artificial, an automation software company, have announced a strategic technology collaboration to develop a software automation platform for Thermo Fisher’s standardised COVID-19 Testing Platform. 

The integration aims to result in increased testing throughput and support global healthcare initiatives.

As part of the collaboration, Artificial will provide access to its aLab Suite software, designed to seamlessly integrate with Thermo Scientific Momentum Workflow software and robotics hardware. This will form part of the COVID-19 Testing Platform that will enable laboratories to quickly upscale COVID-19 testing volumes to help reduce the spread of the disease and restore economies and communities. The aLab Suite software facilitates the dynamic scheduling of protocol runs with batch optimisations to maximise the number of tests run. In addition, manual system set-up steps associated with Momentum process execution can be coordinated using aLab digital assistants to reduce the need for user input. Furthermore, the use of aLab assistant’s digital twin of a COVID-19 testing system to guide lab technicians on where, when and how to load system consumables aims to reduce errors associated with manual tasks, ensuring sample safety and integrity and increasing system productivity.

Hansjoerg Haas, senior director and general manager, laboratory automation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, said: “Laboratories performing COVID-19 testing continue to face the combined challenges of rapidly scaling workflows to meet the demands of communities while ensuring the accuracy and reproducibility of results. This collaboration enables biopharma and contract services companies to both simplify their lab technicians’ interactions with automated systems and more efficiently coordinate the use of their multiple Momentum automated systems, increasing productivity and minimising user intervention to meet industry needs.”

As part of the partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific will use its experience across life sciences to provide feedback on aLab Suite functionalities and capabilities to contribute to future product requirements and system specifications.

David Fuller, CEO of Artificial, said: “Artificial’s aLab Suite is a great addition to Thermo Fisher’s standardised COVID-19 Testing Platform solution in further enabling COVID-19 testing laboratories to easily and quickly scale their operations to meet the current demands. Our partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific represents an exciting opportunity to improve COVID-19 testing throughput and further develop the aLab Suite to address the pain points of the life sciences market.”