1. HAMILTON Software VENUS
VENUS 96 Head Strategies

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Using the 96 Head to pipette less than 96 samples
2 Strategies
“Potato printing” – removing some tips then using the remaining ones
Shifted tip pick up – picking up tips with the head over only part of the rack

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Potato Printing
Create a rack that contains just the tips you want to use
Pickup some tips with the channels and throw them away
Pickup tips with the channels and use them (e.g. to add controls) then throw them away
Pick up tips with the channels and put them in an empty rack
Details

4. Detail: Making a Tip Pattern
To remove tips without pipetting
Use a Tip Pick Up (single step)
Sequence containing tips to remove
If the step is not in the tool box, enable it in Configuration Editor
You may need a loop to remove all the tips

5. Detail: Making a Tip Pattern
To remove tips without pipetting
Use a Tip Eject (single step)
To waste (you could also use a Tip Eject Smart step to do this)
To an empty rack

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Potato Printing
Pick up the remaining tips with the 96 head
This sequence must include the whole rack of tips
Sample Tracking

7. Detail: Sample Tracking
To control which samples are recorded as pipetted in the sample tracking database
Under the customise button
Leave this set to (0) All
Untick the missing tips here
With mode All, this ONLY affects sample tracking – any tips that are in the rack will be picked up

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Shifted Tip Pickup
There must be space around the rack
For clear tip racks, you will need a tip support (p/n )
Nestable tips should be placed on an NTR1 module (p/n )

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Shifted Tip Pickup
Ensure the tip sequence is correctly sorted
To pick up columns, sequence sorted in columns
To pick up rows, sequence sorted in rows
Either order will work for single tips

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Shifted Tip Pickup
First, move the tips to the correct position
Use a CORE 96 Head Tip Pick Up (single step) to pick up the tips from a standard rack and the Tip Eject step to put them in the support
Move your nestable tip rack from a stack to this position (CORE grippers or iSWAP)

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Shifted Tip Pickup
Picking up one or more columns of tips
Mode is (3) Columns(s)
Select the number of columns here – this is view of the head from above
Ignore this – it is incorrect

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Shifted Tip Pickup
Picking up one or more columns of tips
The channel pattern in the previous image will result in this pickup
Take care that there is nothing here that the 96 head will hit
tip rack
96 head
Multiple Cycles

13. Detail: Multple Cycles
If tips are picked up from the same rack multiple times (assuming tip sequence is incremented)
This column of tips was removed in cycle 1 so is not picked up
Cycle 1
Cycle 2
Cycle 3

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Shifted Tip Pickup
Picking up one or more rows of tips
Tip sequence must be sorted in rows

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Shifted Tip Pickup
Picking up one tip
Choose which corner of the head