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By Joshua Gomes
Buying the LNP Screening Array starts with an on-site evaluation on your own liquid handler, so your team can review its own data before starting procurement, or begin earlier if it prefers.
A benchtop formulation instrument usually enters procurement as a capital request. Budget approval and bench space planning come before the team has formulated its own LNPs on it, and adding capacity later means repeating the cycle for a second instrument.
The LNP Screening Array is a consumable that runs on the liquid handler already in the lab, so the purchase starts with an evaluation on that liquid handler. The team reviews its own results first, and the order follows on a standard purchase order.
| Buying step | Benchtop formulation instrument | LNP Screening Array |
|---|---|---|
| First step | Capital request and budget approval | Intro call |
| Before the first formulation | A vendor demo, then purchase, bench space planning, and installation | Evaluation planning discussion and agreed success criteria |
| Where the team tests it | At a vendor demo, or in the lab after purchase and installation | On your own liquid handler during the evaluation |
| When procurement starts | Before the team has its own data | After your team reviews its own data, or earlier if your team prefers |
| Adding capacity later | Another instrument purchase | More LNP Screening Arrays |
Starting with the data gives procurement a purchase backed by results from your own lab. The cycle itself is shorter because the LNP Screening Array is a consumable purchase that runs on equipment the lab already owns, so it stays out of the capital equipment approval process.
The process starts with an intro call with our team, and nothing needs to be prepared beforehand. Quotes, purchase orders and vendor paperwork come after the evaluation data review.
| Intro call topic | What it shapes |
|---|---|
| The liquid handler in the lab | The automation protocol we configure for the evaluation |
| The lipids and cargo the team plans to screen | What the team formulates during the evaluation |
| How the team formulates today | The benchmark for the evaluation’s success criteria |
Before the visit, your team and our applications scientists agree on what the evaluation will test. Your team sets the success criteria and benchmarks them against the current formulation method, so the evaluation answers the questions you need answered before you buy.
| Evaluation plan | Who sets it |
|---|---|
| Lipids and cargo to formulate | Your team |
| Success criteria | Your team, benchmarked against its current formulation method |
| Liquid handler and deck setup | Your team, with guidance from our applications scientists |
| Automation protocol | Our team, configured during the visit |
Criteria usually center on particle size, PDI, encapsulation efficiency, and other characterization data from your formulations, measured side by side with the current method. Depending on the program, the evaluation can also include in vitro results from formulations made during the visit.
An applications scientist spends one to two days on site and installs the automation protocol on your liquid handler, with on-site support and travel included at no additional charge. Your team formulates with your own lipids and cargo on the LNP Screening Array and can run your current method alongside it, so both methods are tested with the same reagents in the same lab.
| During the visit | What happens |
|---|---|
| Protocol installation | Our applications scientist installs and runs the automation protocol on your liquid handler |
| First formulations | Your lipids and cargo run on the LNP Screening Array |
| Side-by-side runs | Your current formulation method runs with the same reagents |
| Characterization | Our team runs DLS on site on the collected formulations |
Our applications team reviews the particle size, PDI and other characterization data with the team against the criteria set before the visit, and stays available remotely afterward.
| Question the data review answers | Evidence from the evaluation |
|---|---|
| Does the LNP Screening Array meet our success criteria? | Characterization data from the team’s own formulations using the LNP Screening Array |
| How does it compare with our current method? | Side-by-side results with the legacy formulation method from the same lab and the same reagents |
| Does it run on our liquid handler? | A successful install and evaluation on your existing liquid handler |
Leadership sees those results before any order is placed, so approval becomes a review of data your team has already generated instead of a judgment call on a platform no one in the lab has used.
The order follows the data review and is sized to the screening volume your team now knows it needs. The LNP Screening Array is a consumable, so it can be ordered on a standard purchase order without going through a capital equipment request and the internal budget approval that instrument purchases require.
| After the data review | LNP Screening Array |
|---|---|
| Quote | Sized to the team’s screening volume |
| Purchase type | Consumable on a standard purchase order |
| Lead time | Two days |
Recurring orders run on a monthly supply plan set to your program’s screening cadence. The automation protocol and deck setup from the evaluation stay in place, so screening starts on the same setup your team evaluated.
Start with an intro call, and we’ll plan an evaluation around your liquid handler and your formulations.