The Biomek 2000 is capable of setting up screens. It can handle viscous liquids if the liquid level sensing tools are combined with very slow pipetting. My experience with Biomek 2000 systems is that it is not quicker to prepare anything with them. Their advantage comes in reproducibility and consistency. The Interface is quite outdated but fairly easy to use once you get the hang of it. As with any system it will only do what it has been programmed to do, so you need to be very careful making sure every step of the method is correct. This can be time consuming for a long method but once it is done, it is done.
Maintenance is a lottery. I have worked with four of these systems. Some required a lot of maintenance, some hardly any. It seems to be a matter of luck. We did not do maintenance ourselves, we had a service contract so I cannot say how difficult maintenance is. Good luck, Phil Bourne -----Original Message----- From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Anton Meinhart Sent: Monday, December 09, 2013 8:25 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ccp4bb] Experience with Biomek 2000 liquid-handling system Dear all, does anyone have experience in using a Biomek 2000 liquid-handling system for preparing screens? How does it perform with viscous solutions - e.g. PEGs? How difficult / time consuming are programming and maintenance? Your help is highly appreciated. Toni Meinhart
