I want to ask about the Byonoy 96 microplate reader (absorbance and luminescence). I’m curious whether it can read strictly at the centre of fixed coordinate (ie the centre of the well) only, or can it actually can be programmed such as via USB if reverse engineered, to read at any coordinate within an SBS-format plate?
For anyone who has Byonoy or has looked through its hardware, I appreciate if you can let me know if it is also compatible to read a 384-well plate, or a single well plate at any coordinate. If the hardware involves absorbance system that is fixed at 96 locations, then this is not possible. But if the hardware works by moving the reader at any coordinate, then this would work for any plate than can fit inside the container. Just want to know before we buy one. Thank you so much!
Short answer: no, none of the Byonoy plate readers can read at any arbitrary location.
Instead, the plate readers are as miniaturised as they are - i.e. can be placed on a liquid handler deck - because of the hardware decisions they’ve made:
every well has its own light path!: i.e. there are 96 lights on the “cap” (named “illumination unit” in the manual), and 96 detectors in the base (named “detection unit” in the manual)
→ this means that ALL wells are read simultaneously
→ at the cost of not being able to move the coordinates that are being read (it’s a worthwhile tradeoff imo)
this means you cannot read a 384-wellplate with the “Absorbance 96 Automate” plate reader - if 384-wellplate reading is a must for you I would recommend just contacting Byonoy and asking whether they are working on an “Absorbance 384 Automate” - their team is very approachable and we found them extremely nice to work with.
every detection mode requires purchase of a different machine - the absorbance plate reader cannot perform luminescence readings (to my knowledge, and vice versa … same for a future version that might read fluorescence )
for absorbance, you have to choose what wavelengths you want to be able to read when ordering, i.e. you cannot perform spectral scans (as you can do with a big machine like a CLARIOstar)
Altogether, the Absorbance 96 Automate is an amazing machine - you get speed and a uniquely tiny form factor to fit anywhere at the tradeoff of less measurement flexibility and a very reasonable price, can highly recommend
or we can just ask Byonoy - they are an official PyLabRobot supporter now
This is more than the answer I needed! Thanks so much for the prompt reply. Also agree, fair with its price, the tradeoff is understandable.
Also I actually didnt notice on the fixed 4 wavelengths only for one device (that’s also fair for the price), but still far cheaper than Opentrons Absorbance Module which also come with 4 default wavelength filters.
It looks to me as though that is the Byonoy Absorbance 96 Automate?
Maybe Opentrons just created a tray for the Byonoy machine so that it fits nicely on the Flex deck? And probably would provide a definition for it in the Opentrons definition universe to make it easier to use?
But why are they not even mentioning Byonoy’s name then, funny?
Hi @hazlamshamin, Colten here from Byonoy. Camillo already covered the main points. I just wanted to add that you can reach out to us directly if you’d like to discuss a particular application or potential customization of our existing reader lineup.
Hi Colten! Will keep that in mind, really appreciate the direct support from Byonoy Currently we are seeking budget to purchase one of the 96 Absorbance Automate hence is looking through what it can and cannot do for on-the-deck applications.
Hi again Colten, something suddenly came in my mind, so wanted to check this. I understand that the Byonoy microplate reader, has 96 led/readers and thisbis good for speed. My question is can the plate or the reader that holds all the 96 sensors (especially the 96 Automate), move with xy offset? For example, for an SBS-format plate, can the top left sensor reads at the very top left of a microplate, instead of at the usual position of A1?
I am asking this because if the offset is flexible across whole plate, then we can read a plate 4 times with different offsets, to make it 384.
Thanks so much @CamilloMoschner that’s helpful to know. Then that really makes it strictly reads at fixed 96 absolute coordinates. I was really hopeful that it’s not though. If Byonoy team think this is worth to consider for tweaking the hardware, I believe the hardware changes/extension can make it more universal for “reading” any plate as there is not much on-the-deck plate reader like this but most in the market carry similar limitation: strictly reading at fixed absolute coordinates @Colten . Just my humble opinion as a potential user
Hi @hazlamshamin , Sorry for the late reply. Camillo’s response is correct. Is the requirement related specifically to the ability to read at any position, or more related to dual 96/384 capability?
Thanks for replying @Colten . It’s more for reading at any position by enabling offset of either the plate or the 96-sensors board. Because any 96 reader can be expanded to 384 or more wells using offsets
Hi @hazlamshamin, I don’t think this is a correct statement:
Your infographic assumes (1) that the light source is a single point light beam, and (2) that the detector is similarly only detecting a single small area in space, or a point.
The Byonoy A96A is an absorbance reader, which typically have (1) a wide illumination source, and (2) a (relatively speaking) massive detector - in the case of the Byonoy the detector is roughly the diameter of a typical 96-wellplate well.
This means moving a 384-wellplate with just an offset will almost certainly fail on both the (1) single illumination and (2) single detector activation sides.
There are some ways I could see being done to overcome these issues (e.g. choosing detector arrays, fancy word for ‘camera’ , instead of PMTs would enable subsectioning your detector data if multiple 384-wells sit on top of a detector originally designed for a 96-well format) … but that comes with other technical caveats and is quite intricate and I’d imagine it significantly driving the price up from the very reasonably-priced A96A.
Please let me know whether I have missed something
Thanks for the pushback @CamilloMoschner, it made me rethink this. I’ve previously made a similar “offset + multiple reads” approach work on a higher-end microplate reader, but you’re right that my statement was too broad here.
On (1): I don’t think a single-point light beam is required for what I’m proposing. The idea is still to read 96 positions per run, but to do it four times using four different software plate definitions (i.e., different XY origins/offsets). A wider illumination source could still work in that setup (though we will sacrifice well masking).
On (2): you’re absolutely right, and this is the detail I missed. If the Byonoy detector effectively has a sensing area roughly the diameter of a 96-well, then reading a 384 plate via offsets will likely average across multiple 384 wells, especially because the inter-well walls/partitions sit inside that sensing area and will distort the measurement.
I overlooked this because I was thinking about scaling a 96 reader for a single-well plate format (no inter-well walls), where “averaging over an area” doesn’t create the same problem.
Really appreciate the critical feedback as always.
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Currently we are seeking budget to purchase one of the 96 Absorbance Automate hence is looking through what it can and cannot do for on-the-deck applications.
, instead of PMTs would enable subsectioning your detector data if multiple 384-wells sit on top of a detector originally designed for a 96-well format) … but that comes with other technical caveats and is quite intricate and I’d imagine it significantly driving the price up from the very reasonably-priced A96A.