Everyday Life Sciences Heroes: Eurofins Discovery–Taiwan

Today, our “Everyday Life Sciences Heroes” series shines the spotlight on pioneer global contract research organization in Asia. We speak with?Eurofins Discovery–Taiwan to understand the trends and demands in Contract Research Organization (CRO) industry, and how Beckman Coulter Life Sciences Automated Liquid Handling Solutions is helping customers leverage technology to overcome challenges in their daily work.

1. Please introduce the Eurofins Discovery-Taiwan’s industry positioning, and vision

Eurofins Discovery-Taiwan: Eurofins Discovery-Taiwan is an experienced Contract Research Organization (CRO) that has earned its respected reputation supporting the global biopharmaceutical and biotechnological industries. Our team of scientific experts provides a variety of in vitro capabilities supporting preclinical drug discovery, including: basic research, target validation, hit finding and optimization, hit-to-lead, mechanism of action, and safety pharmacology. We provide a one-stop-shop solution to our biopharma partners to push their pipelines to the next horizon.?????

2. Compare to the other companies in the same industry, what is the research experience and service characteristics of Eurofins Discovery-Taiwan?

What distinguishes our CRO is our legacy gained from over 50 years of experience in preclinical studies, and developing more than 1,350 assays in biochemical, biophysical, biological, and cell functional platforms. Our service line covers relevant molecular targets of drug discovery, ensuring our cross-disciplinary team is fully capable of supporting a broad range of preclinical research, with high-quality solutions. In addition to off-the-shelf assays, we also provide highly flexible custom solutions. To stay competitive, our scientists regularly initiate innovation and optimization plans and develop new assay targets, platforms, and relevant technologies. We’ve built our leading reputation for Eurofins Discovery-Taiwan by consistently providing our experience and flexibility in operations and delivering instant technical support and actionable advice to our customers. Our strong science operation is reinforced by our scrupulous quality assurance and control system to ensure the highest-quality service for our clients.

3. What are the main tasks of the scientists?

At Eurofins Discovery-Taiwan, our work entails scientists performing a wide range of assays daily, plus: Our team focuses on developing new assays, workflow optimization, troubleshooting to support a diligent lab environment and instrument maintenance, internal and external training, and other daily assignments. In addition, our scientists also participate in regional and global projects and conferences.?

4. Can you share what steps you are most looking forward to automating in the experiment process?

At Eurofins Discovery-Taiwan, we’ve put major focus on achieving full automation of our experimental process – automating from compound dispensing and assay operation to data readout and ultimately report generation. To accomplish our goal, we have invested in equipment starting with compound dispensing and dilution, selecting the Beckman Coulter Life Sciences Echo as our initial new automation point, and are building from there to ensure automation is fully integrated and works cohesively. All the efforts are aimed at maintaining our good reputation in the biopharma industry as a leading CRO, and at providing hit-finding solutions for the discovery of small and large molecules.

5. As one of the many options, why did you choose the Beckman Coulter Echo system? How did it really help you in your experimental work and what did it do for you?

Our team at Eurofins Discovery-Taiwan is finding the Beckman Coulter Echo system ideal for a high-throughput compound dispensing process. What’s also critical to our scientific work is that it’s been easy to integrate with our other instruments. Our Echo supports sample titration and contributes to reduction of sample consumption. Among the most important capabilities from our new Echo system has been shortening the duration of compound dispensing step, especially in 384-well format. By our estimates, the Echo system helps us save 80% of the compound dispensing time over our original settings. Plus, the Echo system is suitable to contribute to customized assay platform development and to establish a compound library for further screening. It effectively increases our efficiency in the compound handling process, strengthening our capability and flexibility overall.

6. What are the specific impacts of automating these steps?

From an operational perspective, we’ve increased our daily maximum assay capacity by five times after integrating compound dispensing management by the Echo system. This significant time efficiency also brings more flexibility to our experiment schedule, and a smoother working process. In addition to the 5X increase in dispensing with the Echo system, our dispensing results have become traceable and assay quality more reliable. Echo’s auto-titration function helps us to streamline compound preparation, no longer requiring several steps previously required. In the end, the new automated technology frees our scientists from tedious work and provides them more time to focus on optimization and innovation. All this added efficiency benefits our clients; we’ve found Echo to be the most accurate system we’ve used to reduce the usage of compounds and reagents, leading to an immediate cost-saving advantage. Our vision is to have the best practice in our procedure, including compound dispensing, and assay execution, with high accuracy and reliability.????

7. The future laboratory vision, prospects, and conclusion.

Our team at Eurofins Discovery-Taiwan is eager to continue building out a fully one-stop automated lab, one capable of robustness and reliability in quality. We believe our efforts will bring our team and our global partners to the next level of drug discovery, and make a solid contribution to biomedical development and our ultimate goal, enhancing human life.

This feature series by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences puts the spotlight on “Everyday Life Sciences Heroes” who have demonstrated professionalism, dedication, and hard work in pursuing answers to life's important scientific and healthcare questions. Through knowledge sharing, let us learn while advancing research and discovery together.

The Beckman Coulter Echo system is For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.?

?2022-GBL-EN-100576-v1 (v1.1) ? 2023 Beckman Coulter, Inc. All rights reserved. Beckman Coulter, the stylized logo, and the Beckman Coulter product and service marks mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Beckman Coulter, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.?