# Acquisition of the ECHO 650 liquid handler: a multi-disciplinary, multi-laboratory tool for research, innovation and education

> **NIH NIH S10** · RBHS-NEW JERSEY MEDICAL SCHOOL · 2020 · $379,300

## Abstract

Project Summary
 The laboratories of Drs. Alland, Perlin, Dick, Dartois, Freundlich, Kreiswirth and Neiditch have been
working collaboratively for many years, conducting cutting edge research in the infectious disease field. One of
the major focuses of these laboratories is to discover and develop new antimicrobial drugs against high-threat
pathogens such as drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) disease,
select agents and drug resistant bacterial and fungal pathogens. These laboratories are also global leaders in
developing advanced PCR based molecular diagnostic assays. Additional NIH funded projects include studies
of M. tuberculosis biomarkers that predict poor treatment outcomes. All of these projects rely on extensive
characterization of interactions between bacteria and antibiotics, or complex studies of drug properties. The
purpose of this grant is to acquire an Echo 650 Liquid Handler (Labcyte Inc.) to support a massive scale-up and
an increase in the complexity of bacteria-drug and drug-ADME studies by these investigators and other
researchers at Rutgers University and at the Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery & Innovation.
This liquid handler rapidly and accurately dispenses compounds, chemicals and reagents in 2.5 nL packets using
sonic waves without using any type of tips or cartridges. This process permits rapid construction of complex
multi-reagent dilution series in plates at densities as high 3,456 wells, and eliminates inaccuracies caused by
liquid adherence to pipette tips and the resulting carryover common to all classical serial dilution approaches.
We have also developed an application that enables bacterial dilution series that is as accurate as reagent
dilutions. This instrument permits experiments that would otherwise be completely impractical or not worth
pursuing due to pipetting inaccuracies. It reduces preparation times from hours to minutes, dramatically
increases reproducibility, and produces substantial savings in plastic consumables. Based on acquisition of this
equipment we aim to perform 1) Fast high-throughput minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) drug screening of
a wide-range of anti-microbial compounds against M. tuberculosis, NTMs, fungi and other high priority bacteria.
2) Multi-drug combination studies to test for drug synergy to determine in vitro efficacy of multi-drug regimens.
3) Large scale susceptibility testing of M. tuberculosis clinical isolates to TB drugs using fractional dilutions. 4)
Achieve a 100-fold reduction in the cost of preparing Illumina DNA Flex libraries for whole genome sequencing
and RNAseq by performing nano-scale library generation. 5) Develop and perform large scale plate based
enzymatic and cell based assays. 6) Develop new applications in the field of antimicrobial compound discovery
and routinely run otherwise complex and time intensive multi-analyte analyses. We have evaluated other liquid
handlers but none of them fully ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9940209
- **Project number:** 1S10OD026890-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** RBHS-NEW JERSEY MEDICAL SCHOOL
- **Principal Investigator:** David Alland
- **Activity code:** S10 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $379,300
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-15 → 2021-08-14

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9940209

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9940209, Acquisition of the ECHO 650 liquid handler: a multi-disciplinary, multi-laboratory tool for research, innovation and education (1S10OD026890-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9940209. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*