2022-05-17 by Johannes Lang and Samuel Stoney

Five benefits of pressure-controlled liquid handling

Festo favors pressure-controlled dosing systems for liquid handling in laboratory automation because they open up a simple way to dispense liquids precisely, flexibly, scalably, and with high throughput.

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2021-10-01 by Thomas Kunert

Easy integration of piezo valves for efficient gas handling

With low energy consumption and no heat build-up, piezo valves offer compelling arguments for efficient regulation of flow rate and pressure in gas handling. When combined with special electronics, they can quickly and easily replace conventional solenoid valves.

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2021-08-18 by Douglas Major and Jasmin Hotz

Design for Manufacturing of lab-on-a-chip devices

Demand is growing for point-of-care tests. With Festo as a partner, new and established providers can reduce the time-to-market for their lab-on-a-chip systems. A modular system of ready-to-install, pretested subsystems makes it possible to get started straight away with mass production.

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2021-06-06 by Petros Apostolopoulos and Ross Bilton

Saving lives with the right antibiotic

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is one of the world's deadliest and most costly health threats. A new diagnostic platform finds the right drug, for targeted therapy within 24 hours. Included: dosing heads and handling portals from Festo.

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2021-01-25 by Christian Sampedro

Integrated solutions for liquid handling

Festo offers an ever-expanding product portfolio for handling extremely small quantities of liquids. And it's not just manufacturers in laboratory automation who benefit from the advantages of versatile and easy-to-integrate solutions.

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2020-11-27 by Jürgen Böck

No longer afraid of the dentist thanks to teaching robot

To help future dentists and dental assistants deal with children during dental treatments, the Japanese company tmsuk has developed a humanoid robot that realistically simulates the behavior of young children during these treatments. The dummy’s realistic movements are produced using proportional pressure regulators with piezo technology.

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2020-05-12 by Petros Apostolopoulos

On the hunt for high throughput diagnostics

Global diagnostics companies and laboratories are in a race against time to adapt testing capacities to current demand. Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for testing exceeds the existing capacity by far. Festo’s unique portfolio of liquid handling solutions allows machine builders for laboratory equipment and diagnostic companies to build scalable, high-throughput IVD devices.

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2020-05-06 by Petros Apostolopoulos

Ideal for developers: Liquid Handling Starter Kit

Pressure-controlled dispensing systems are perfect for laboratory applications because of their precision. Festo offers a starter kit containing all the main components developers need for easy and faster testing of new dispensing applications.

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2020-01-22 by Petros Apostolopoulos

Greater autonomy and repetition accuracy in liquid handling

Using external compressed air supply for liquid handling systems? Need repetition accuracy with multiple dosing tasks? Two solutions from Festo ensure that design engineers and users no longer have to worry about these issues.

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2019-11-06 by Bert Baas

Accurate removal of prostate tissue

Medical robots are playing an increasingly important role in medical diagnostics. Partially automated handling solutions allow the precise targeting of suspicious areas in the prostate, delivering more accurate biopsy results and better prostate cancer detection.

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2019-08-06 by Stefan Emberger and Mustansir Faizullabhoy

Faster development of efficient, reliable specimen handling

Festo developed a compact specimen handling solution, in collaboration with PerkinElmer, for a global leader in manufacturing medical devices. Thanks to the involvement of the customer early on in the development process, the subsystem was easy to integrate into the customer’s platform.

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2019-06-05 by Dr. Stefan Bammesberger

Mixing and dosing gases – four applications, one solution

When it comes to precisely and efficiently controlling gases, the mass flow controller VEMD is the perfect choice for a wide range of applications. This is demonstrated by the examples in this blog, which include oxygen and nitric oxide therapy, filling processes for infusion bags, build-up welding and the production of ice cream.

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2019-02-25 by Bert Baas

DNA extraction machine for plant breeding

Synchron Lab Automation and Festo worked very closely together to develop an automated DNA extraction system with very high throughput rates. The machine is a perfect example of a combination of industrial and laboratory automation in which components from Festo carry out important functions in all extraction phases.

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2018-11-21 by Stefan Emberger

Automated opening and closing of sample vials

Opening and closing of sample vials is a special challenge in the field of laboratory automation. Finding the right solution depends on the dimensions of the sample vials, the required torques and whether or not different vials will have to be handled.

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2018-08-16 by Dr. Stefan Bammesberger

Part 2: Precision and accuracy in liquid handling

How to evaluate and optimize liquid handling performance in depth: Characterization within the different levels of dispensing performance permits a systematic, detailed and above all differentiated analysis of precision, accuracy and possible sources of error.

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2018-07-17 by Johanna Stumpf

Implementation of ISO 13485 and Medical Risk Management

Festo started supplying products for gas and liquid handling in medical applications and was confronted with the ISO 13485 standard. A decision was made in favor of certification, which in retrospect was the best way to go. Three years after certification, the projects have benefitted from compliance with this standard.

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2018-06-12 by Dr. Andreas Schüle

Eye surgery with valve technology

BYTEC Medizintechnik develops devices that enable eye surgeons to carry out operations accurately, error-free and in accordance with their own personal requirements. Piezo, proportional and fast-switching valves from Festo allow the necessary rapid incisions to be made.

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2018-05-08 by Dr. Stefan Bammesberger

Part 1: Precision and accuracy in liquid handling

Dispensing liquid aliquots, for example by means of automated liquid handlers, is a key process in lab automation. Evaluating liquid handling performance is important for lab technicians, as well as for manufacturers of liquid handling technology.

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2018-04-05 by Stefan Emberger / Thomas Kunert

Analytica 2018: Bringing laboratory automation to life

How can a component supplier clearly show the benefits of a new technical solution? The Festo trade fair construction team showcases new products in the form of dynamic exhibits. Discover the new handling module for gripping and opening small sample vials as well as many other interesting application examples live at Analytica.

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2018-03-14 by Wolfgang Trautwein / Dr. Bengt Wunderlich

Solutions in lab automation: dispensing and pipetting

Small liquid droplets with volumes on the microliter scale are used in many applications today. Areas where these droplets can play a particularly important role include: liquid handling in life sciences and pharmaceutical research, diagnostics, and microfluidic applications.  Two liquid handling techniques which are typically employed are pipetting and dispensing.

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2018-02-12 by Wolfgang Trautwein

The laboratory of the future – the SMART lab

The lab of the future will present unforeseen challenges and opportunities as higher throughput, precisely controlled automated processes and information collection and analysis solve today’s problems and bring new ideas to light.

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2018-01-14 by Thomas Kunert

Piezo-technology valves in medical technology

Piezo technology provides a new way to design valves for controlling the pressure or flow of gases. Piezoelectric behavior can be used in many applications, such as battery-operated devices and applications where valves cannot be allowed to heat the gas.

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2018-01-08 by Wolfgang Trautwein

Sample handling and transport in lab automation processes

The collection, transport and processing of clinical samples are pre-analytical steps that are critical to obtaining reliable diagnostics. Tailored solutions for automated sample handling are available and help to reduce errors while improving efficiency.

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