Opentrons builds the world's most affordable fully automated thermal cycler, providing our community with more affordable, open source, automated laboratory equipment. At Opentrons, we believe that all scientists should be able to conduct research, regardless of resources, and laboratory automation should be affordable, flexible, and easy to use. We are on a mission to make laboratory automation accessible to every biologist, and the next step in that journey is the Opentrons Thermal Cycler, the latest modular addition to the OT-2 liquid handling platform:

The Opentrons Thermal Cycler is the world's most affordable fully automated thermal cycler and is engineered to the max! For us, user-centered design principles are key; our team learned early on while working at Y Combinator that we needed to focus on making things people want. This not only means that we gather user feedback at every step of the development process; it also means that we decide what matters most to build based on (1) the conversations we have with the community on a regular basis, and (2) market and user data.

Based on our conversations with scientists, we have many options on where to focus our collective engineering, design and product resources. We've heard requests from the community for affordable, open source, automated versions of many types of lab equipment (quite a few of which are easier to make than thermal cyclers!), but we want to make sure we create something that will be useful to as many biologists as possible Something with significant and measurable impact. To do this, we looked at our data to better understand the workflows our community does most often:

Biologists using Opentron, by application

Based on multiple data streams—from website analytics to sales numbers to workflow requests we receive through our custom application development pipeline—we've been able to determine that our community frequently comes to us to start automating their PCR preparations ( 20%), NGS library preparation (15%), and molecular cloning workflow (10%). This means that Opentrons thermal cyclers could potentially impact up to 40% of our growing community and make their workflows easier to implement. This product is a labor of love and marks an important milestone for our company and platform: we are further optimizing full workflows, increasing hands-free time for users, and making the experience of automated wet lab experiments easier and more efficient. Smooth.

For example, now scientists can place a DNA template on the platform with the Opentrons Thermocycler module and run a genotyping PCR. This means that after they automate the process from sample to amplified DNA, all they need to do is load the product and run the gel. This saves them hours of work and gives them confidence that the PCR samples they obtain will be consistent and contamination-free. We also provide users with the ability to perform NGS library preparation from sample to sequencer without leaving the robot for cleanup, ligation, and amplification steps.

Having said that, this approach to full-workflow optimization is also reflected in the addition of small, incremental features. For example, many users love our automation-friendly tips and have been requesting filtered tips to help ensure contamination-free work. We also offer a growing, easy-to-use library of compatible labware. All the tools we create are designed to lower the barrier to entry for automation, allowing biologists with no automation experience to take their experiments to the next level.

For us, Opentrons thermal cyclers have helped us transition from a company that makes liquid handlers to a company that helps laboratories automate their labs end-to-end. This has been our goal from the beginning and one that few companies in our field have been able to achieve. It sets us apart...and we firmly believe that this difference will make us more effective in helping biologists do their work better, faster, and more reliably.

However, we are most excited to see what our community accomplishes with all these new features of our platform. We can't wait to see what else you want us to create, too. If you have any ideas or requests, please feel free to let us know - we'd love to hear from you! And, as always, stay tuned - we're working hard to add more features every day.