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  • 1.  Experience with automation in Next Generation Sequencing applications

    Posted 03-05-2026 07:22 AM

    Dear all, 

    I'm Jens, a lab technician working for the Genomics Core facility, part of the Center for Human Genetics in the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium.
    Our team makes NGS sequencing more accessible for caretakers, researchers and companies and we offer both long read (PacBio and ONT) and short read (Illumina) sequencing.

    We are currently increasing our efforts in automating the manual wetlab procedures, such as library prep and targeted enrichment. We are near completion of the development and validation of the Twist Library prep EF2.0 followed by the Twist Fast Hybridization targeted enrichment (both protocols attached) on our Hamilton NGS Star robots, but we have encountered a few difficulties.

    Are there any users who want to share their knowledge and have experience with

    • Hamilton NGS Star liquid handlers,
    • Twist Fast Hybridization
    • or ideally with the combination

    Any feedback would be highly appreciated! 

    Best regards

    Jens

    P.S. I will attend SLAS Europe 2026 (first time visiting a SLAS conference)



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    Jens Van Bouwel
    Lab Technician
    UZ Leuven
    Leuven
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Experience with automation in Next Generation Sequencing applications

    Posted 03-06-2026 04:12 AM

    Hi Jens,

    I'm Winston from KU Leuven (Rega Institute), we are practically neighbours :).

    I can't help you specifically about NGS applications but I do have quite some experience with liquid handlers and automation in general.

    I'll email you if you want me to pass by to check it out :).

    Kind regards,

    Winston



    ------------------------------
    Winston Chiu
    Caps-It Expert - PhD student
    KU Leuven
    Leuven
    3216326564
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Experience with automation in Next Generation Sequencing applications

    Posted 03-06-2026 04:15 PM

    Hi Jens, it's great to hear you'll be attending SLAS Europe 2026!

    It looks like someone has already reached out, but you might also consider sharing this in the Automation Quality Control TIG, where members often discuss automated platforms and workflow optimization and may have experience with Hamilton systems.

    Looking forward to seeing you in Europe!

    Madeline



    ------------------------------
    Madeline Farley
    Scientific Director
    SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening)
    Kalamazoo MI
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