A flexible approach to automation
Recursion is a clinical stage TechBio company decoding biology to radically improve lives. Enabling it’s advancement of a portfolio of differentiated investigational medicines, is Recursion’s AI-native, end-to-end drug discovery and development platform integrating biology, chemistry, and clinical development into a unified intelligence system. Its automated synthesis team focuses on exploring and optimising chemical reactions, generating high-quality, machine-readable data to support high-throughput experimentation.
As the team looked to expand its high-throughput experimentation (HTE) capabilities, the goal was to create a platform that could accurately dose small quantities of material, handle liquids and reaction incubation reliably, and run with minimal hands-on intervention.
Crucially, the system also needed to integrate seamlessly with Recursion’s existing software ecosystem, allowing the resulting reaction data to be captured in a consistent, machine-readable format.
The result is an automated synthesis platform that gives Recursion a more reproducible and flexible way to investigate reaction conditions, while significantly reducing the amount of hands-on time required from its scientists.
A key part of the development was the ability to handle very small reaction volumes. With typical volumes below 100 µL, preventing solvent loss during reactions was critical.
To address this, Labman worked with Recursion on a proof of concept for an automated plate-sealing system. The team developed a new reaction lid and sealing system while allowing Recursion to continue using its existing commercial reaction blocks.
The platform’s API was customised around Recursion’s workflow requirements, giving the team flexibility in how the system was operated and troubleshot. Following installation, the platform integrated into Recursion’s LIMS ecosystem.
As the team continues to explore increasingly challenging reactions, the platform provides a foundation for taking on more concurrent projects and expanding the role of automation within automated synthesis.