Since 2003, mosquito has been a trusted solution in drug discovery, used by hundreds of pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic labs worldwide. Its unique nanoliter liquid handling enables researchers to perform traditional experiments at a fraction of the volume, significantly increasing throughput while maintaining precision.
Using true positive displacement technology, mosquito® accurately transfers even highly viscous liquids such as DMSO, master mixes, and plasma, without risk of clogging or cross-contamination. These capabilities make it an invaluable tool for applications ranging from compound screening and medicinal chemistry to molecular and structural biology.
A testament to mosquito’s impact in drug discovery is Viral Patel, an expert in molecular pharmacology and a longstanding mosquito user. Having implemented mosquito at multiple laboratories across the globe, he continues to choose this technology for its reproducibility and flexibility in early-phase drug discovery.
Through his long-standing partnership with SPT Labtech, Viral has also contributed to the evolution of mosquito. His valuable insights have been incorporated into product development, refining its capabilities to continue to meet real-world research challenges.
A trusted partner throughout the years
Viral’s career in molecular pharmacology and early-stage drug discovery has taken him across the globe, including leading the pharmacology group in Singapore for two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
He co-founded E Bioscience in 2016, a contract research organization also focused on early-phase drug discovery. The company has rapidly grown, and today, Viral is Chief Operations Officer, leading a team of 30 scientists working on projects with both big pharma and small to medium enterprises.
Throughout this time, including the establishment of Excellerate Bioscience, Viral has continued to incorporate mosquito as a core component of his research workflows.
The decision to adopt a mosquito®
One key enabler of Excellerate Biosciences’ progress has been mosquito LV (and later mosquito HV). Its precision, versatility, and reliability in low-volume liquid handling has supported screening and assay development workflows. The decision to incorporate mosquito was driven by both practical and strategic considerations.
“When we started the company, we knew we needed automation to be competitive,” explains Viral Patel. “I was fortunate that SPT Labtech helped us get a second-hand instrument that we incorporated into our lab pretty much immediately. Without that, we wouldn’t be where we are now.”
This early investment in automation allowed Excellerate Bioscience to establish itself quickly, demonstrating its capabilities to pharmaceutical clients through iterative, routine screening processes.
The role of mosquito in drug discovery
The versatility of mosquito has been particularly beneficial for the company. It is primarily used to perform serial dilutions, as well as adding low volumes of high-concentration compounds to assays. It supports a range of experimental formats, including cellular assays, recombinant protein-based assays, and work with human primary cells.
“A significant part of our work involves using cells, particularly primary cells,” says Viral. “The ability to use mosquito across different assays, without having to invest in multiple different systems, has been invaluable.”
Even in large-scale screening efforts, the system has proven its value. “We recently ran a 50,000-compound focused library in 384-well format using mosquito. It took us just under four weeks to complete, including all follow-up serial dilutions and IC50 analysis of the hits. Additionally, we were able to utilize the mosquito to simultaneously plate out the compounds into different plates, enabling us to perform selective screens concurrently.”
Robustness and reliability in a demanding environment
mosquito's robust performance ensures consistency across multiple experiments and reproducible results.
“We know it’s robust and reproducible, and that’s the most crucial thing in our work,” notes Viral. “Integrating mosquito with our other systems has taken away a lot of the manual pipetting errors that we used to encounter in the lab.”
Unlike some alternative liquid handlers, mosquito provides a balance between affordability, functionality, and dependability.
“Other systems, like acoustic liquid handlers, have their limitations, especially when working with cells. mosquito doesn’t have those restrictions.”
In addition, the mosquito pipettor minimizes costs through assay miniaturization and ultra-low dead volumes, coupled with minimal servicing needs. Its robust design conserves reagents and requires less frequent maintenance, thereby reducing downtime and operational expenses. These advantages make it a cost-effective solution for precision liquid handling in biotech labs.
A modular approach to automation
A key aspect of Excellerate Bioscience’s approach to laboratory automation is modularity. Rather than investing in a single all-in-one solution, they prefer instruments that work independently but can also integrate seamlessly into their workflow. This ensures that the entire pipeline isn’t disrupted whenever one instrument requires servicing.
“It works for us to have a modular setup with standalone pieces of equipment,” explains Viral. “That way, if something goes wrong, we can still utilize other pieces of equipment without affecting the whole process. This is crucial for keeping our clients happy and avoiding delays.”
Expanding applications and future considerations
With the introduction of mosquito HV, Excellerate Bioscience has further expanded the range of applications they can support. The team has also started integrating complementary instruments such as dragonfly® for assay optimization and matrix development as well as the apricot® S3 automated pipettor for fast and reliable plate-to-plate transfers.
“As always, it takes time for people to fully integrate a new instrument into their routine workflows,” says Viral. “But we’re gaining traction now, and the ability to optimize assays efficiently is making a big difference.”
Looking ahead, the team is considering additional enhancements, such as integrating a single-tip system to facilitate compound picking from high-throughput screening libraries.
The enduring impact of mosquito
For Excellerate Bioscience, mosquito has proven itself as an indispensable tool in early-phase drug discovery. Its versatility, robustness, and reliability have enabled the company to grow and maintain its competitive edge in an evolving research landscape.
While automation technology continues to advance, the foundational role of mosquito in Excellerate Bioscience’s operations remains unchanged.
“It’s not just about having a liquid handler," concludes Viral. “It's about having one that you can rely on, and mosquito has been essential to our success.”
