A practical approach to automate randomized design of experiments for ligand-binding assays

Background: Design of experiments (DOE) is utilized in optimizing ligand-binding assay by modeling factor effects. To reduce the analyst’s workload and error inherent with DOE, we propose the integration of automated liquid handlers to perform the randomized designs. Results: A randomized design created from statistical software was imported into custom macro converting the design into a liquid-handler worklist to automate reagent delivery. An optimized assay was transferred to a contract research organization resulting in a successful validation. Conclusion: We developed a practical solution for assay optimization by integrating DOE and automation to increase assay robustness and enable successful method transfer. The flexibility of this process allows it to be applied to a variety of assay designs.