Thermo Fisher Collaborates with Artificial to Accelerate COVID-19 Diagnostics

(Waltham, MA, USA) has entered into a strategic technology collaboration with Artificial, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA, USA) to develop an integrated and comprehensive software automation platform for Thermo Fisher's standardized COVID-19 Testing Platform.

As part of the collaboration, Artificial, developers of flexible automation software, will provide access to its aLab Suite software, designed to seamlessly integrate with Thermo Scientific Momentum Workflow software and robotics hardware. This will form part of the COVID-19 Testing Platform that will enable laboratories to quickly upscale COVID-19 testing volumes to help reduce the spread of the disease and restore economies and communities. The aLab Suite software facilitates the dynamic scheduling of protocol runs with batch optimizations to maximize the number of tests run. In addition, manual system set-up steps associated with Momentum process execution can be coordinated using aLab digital assistants to reduce the need for user input. Furthermore, the use of aLab assistant's digital twin of a COVID-19 testing system to guide lab technicians on where, when and how to load system consumables will reduce errors associated with manual tasks, ensuring sample safety and integrity and increasing system productivity. As part of the partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific will utilize its extensive experience across life sciences to provide feedback on aLab Suite functionalities and capabilities to contribute to future product requirements and system specifications.

"Laboratories performing COVID-19 testing continue to face the combined challenges of rapidly scaling workflows to meet the demands of communities while ensuring the accuracy and reproducibility of results," said Hansjoerg Haas, senior director and general manager, laboratory automation, Thermo Fisher Scientific. "This collaboration enables biopharma and contract services companies to both simplify their lab technicians' interactions with automated systems and more efficiently coordinate the use of their multiple Momentum automated systems, increasing productivity and minimizing user intervention to meet industry needs."

"Artificial's aLab Suite is a great addition to Thermo Fisher's standardized COVID-19 Testing Platform solution in further enabling COVID-19 testing laboratories to easily and quickly scale their operations to meet the current demands," said David Fuller, CEO of Artificial. "Our partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific represents an exciting opportunity to improve COVID-19 testing throughput and further develop the aLab Suite to address the pain points of the life sciences market."

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