Were there any difficulties in the adapting or things that didn’t work in automation that were part of your manual process.

Answer

We chose not to automate some of the most difficult workflow steps, such as those involving capped vessels, so adaptation wasn’t as difficult as it could be.  We initially intended to use 1-well plates to replace T-25 flasks but it was difficult to move the plates on the system without spilling.  We then switched to 6-well plates.  Some scale up steps required pipetting method adaptation, as was expected.  We had to determine the best method to dislodge and aspirate the most cells with the least loss of viability.  This involved moving dispenses.  We learned we didn’t need to tip the plate, as we would in a manual process, to remove a sufficient amount of medium to transfer sufficient cells.