SPT Labtech, a global leader in the design and development of laboratory automation and liquid handling solutions, today announced the availability of validated automated workflows for Twist Bioscience’s next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation kits on its firefly® liquid handling platform. Developed through a collaboration with Twist Bioscience, the workflows are designed to support higher-throughput, more reproducible NGS library preparation and are accessible directly through the firefly cloud.
Development of these workflows reflects growing demand across genomics research and core facilities for standardized automated protocols that improve consistency while reducing hands-on time as sequencing volumes continue to increase. The initial validate automated workflow supports Twist Bioscience’s FlexPrep™ UHT Library Preparation Kit on SPT Labtech’s firefly platform. The automated FlexPrep™ workflow is designed to streamline NGS library preparation through on-deck fragmentation and ligation, as well as an auto-normalizing protocol that reduces indexing and final cleanup to four columns of a 96-well plate. This approach enables increased throughput for laboratories that do not have access to a 384-well thermal cycler, while supporting more consistent processing across samples.
The collaboration also integrates the Twist Enzymatic Fragmentation Kit 2.0 with firefly, enabling an efficient sequencing pipeline, reduced error rates and more accurate results. Ongoing combination of Twist NGS library preparation kits with firefly will continue to expand SPT Labtech’s portfolio of validated, easy-to-implement automated workflows, increasing global access to innovative tools for genomics research.
Rob Walton, Chief Executive Officer at SPT Labtech, said: “We are delighted to be working with Twist Bioscience to bring these high-demand methods to our customers. By making these Twist workflows available on firefly, we are giving users a straightforward way to adopt automation without adding complexity to their existing processes, while access through the firefly cloud allows laboratories to implement these methods quickly and scale as their needs evolve.”
Emily Leproust, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Twist Bioscience, added: “Our customers are increasingly seeking validated, hands-free solutions to improve the efficiency and reproducibility of their NGS workflows. By collaborating with SPT Labtech, we are providing a simple path to automation for our kits, beginning with our new FlexPrep kit, which offers significant benefits in terms of speed and scalability."
