This article and associated images are based on a poster originally authored by Linda Kitching, Maxime Couturier, Jonathan Tart, Erik Elebring, Marcel Taillefer, Claudio Pathe, Giulia Bonetto, Michelle Liberio, Danyel Khan, Abbie Macmillan-Jones and Aditi Pradhan and presented at ELRIG Drug Discovery 2025 in affiliation with AstraZeneca.
This poster is being hosted on this website in its raw form, without modifications. It has not undergone peer review but has been reviewed to meet AZoNetwork's editorial quality standards. The information contained is for informational purposes only and should not be considered validated by independent peer assessment.
Introduction
Large-scale automation platforms provide scientists the opportunity to reduce experimental timelines, enhance reproducibility, and optimize resources. However, whilst these platforms offer substantial capabilities, they are often better suited to routine or repetitive processes.
They can also require significant cost and resource investment, lengthy integration times, and specialized training and maintenance, making them less accessible to inexperienced users.
During assay development and optimization, a greater degree of flexibility is often required, whilst maintaining the reliability and high quality of the data on which decisions are made. Making more effective use of benchtop automation enables the streamlined and reproducible execution of assay workflows without the complexity or investment associated with expansive automation infrastructures.
Importantly, benchtop automation supports robust FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data capture, ensuring that experimental results are structured for future analysis, sharing, and machine-readability. The team has been adapting its ways of working to integrate standalone benchtop automation earlier in assay development workflows.
Objective 1: Delivery of a platform enabling the design and automated execution of any experiment
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Linda Kitching et al., in partnership with ELRIG (UK) Ltd.
Objective 2: Automation of processed previously thought incompatible with automated systems
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Linda Kitching et al., in partnership with ELRIG (UK) Ltd.
Conclusions
These objectives are empowering the teams to maximize productivity and long-term data value by leveraging tools already available in most laboratory environments. Increasing the utility of existing standalone benchtop automation is providing a practical pathway to accelerate and future-proof drug discovery delivery without substantial resource investment.
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a global, science-led patient-focused pharmaceutical company that focuses on transforming the future of healthcare by unlocking the power of what science can do for people, society and the planet.
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About ELRIG (UK) Ltd.
The European Laboratory Research & Innovation Group (ELRIG) is a leading European not-for-profit organization that exists to provide outstanding scientific content to the life science community. The foundation of the organization is based on the use and application of automation, robotics and instrumentation in life science laboratories, but over time, we have evolved to respond to the needs of biopharma by developing scientific programmes that focus on cutting-edge research areas that have the potential to revolutionize drug discovery.
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Last Updated: Nov 7, 2025
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