QPix FLEX Microbial Colony Picker
Compact colony picking, plating & liquid handling with color imaging
Compact system for automated colony picking, streaking, and liquid handling, plus color imaging
The QPix® FLEX™ is more than a colony picker — it’s an integrated microbial workcell purpose-built to streamline your entire microbial screening workflow. By uniting plating, streaking, colony picking, liquid handling, and high-resolution color imaging into one compact system, the QPix FLEX system replaces multiple instruments and eliminates tedious manual steps.
Backed by proven performance, the QPix FLEX workcell delivers more than efficiency — it delivers certainty. In triplicate testing, the system achieved >95% efficiency, 100% accuracy, and 0% contamination, giving researchers the confidence to move from colony to clone with complete trust in their results.
Compact enough to fit in space-constrained labs and engineered to operate within hypoxic chambers, the QPix FLEX system adapts to the environments where other systems fall short. Whether in academia, biotech startups, or high-throughput research labs, the QPix FLEX workcell accelerates discovery and standardizes workflows, all in one integrated platform.
All-in-One Automation
Eliminate fragmented workflows by combining plating, streaking, colony picking, hit picking, and liquid handling in one compact system, saving time and reducing variability.
Smarter Colony Selection
Advanced color imaging and white light detection enable precise colony classification by morphology and color, improving accuracy and minimizing rework.
Hypoxic Chamber Compatibility
Designed to operate seamlessly inside hypoxic or anaerobic chambers, the QPix FLEX system brings full automation to environments where traditional systems can't go.
Reliable Traceability
Integrated 2D barcode reader ensures full sample tracking from plate to pick, supporting reproducibility and compliance in regulated research environments.
QPix FLEX Colony Picker: Compact Automation for Hypoxic & Anaerobic Workflows
Features
High-Resolution Color Imaging
Advanced color and white-light detection enable precise colony classification by morphology and pigmentation, ideal for phenotype screening and diversity studies.
Multi-Function Pipetting Head
Automates plating, streaking, hit picking, and liquid handling across multiple labware types, improving consistency and throughput.
Swappable Tip System
Switch easily between sterilizable metal pins and disposable plastic tips, supporting sterility, sustainability, and cost flexibility without hardware changes.
Integrated 2D Barcode Reader
Provides complete sample traceability from plating through picking, ensuring data integrity and simplifying regulatory compliance.
Flexible Deck Layout
Modular design supports Petri dishes, PCR plates, tubes, and SBS-standard well plates, customizable for diverse workflows.
Compact, Hypoxic-Compatible Design
Footprint fits standard benchtops and anaerobic chambers, enabling full automation even in low-oxygen or space-limited labs.
Smart design meets powerful functionality.
1. High-resolution color and white-light camera
Enables precise colony classification based on morphology and pigmentation – ideal for phenotype-based selection and microbial diversity screening.
2. Multi-function pipetting head (4-channel)
Automates media dispensing, plating, cherry picking, and streaking, reducing manual intervention and ensuring consistent sample preparation.
3. Swappable tip system
You can quickly switch between sterilizable metal pins and disposable tips without changing hardware. Depending on your lab's needs, you can maximize sterility, sustainability, or budget.
4. Integrated barcode reader
Built-in 2D barcode scanning ensures full sample traceability from plating through picking and downstream analysis.
5. Modular labware deck
Supports flexible source and destination labware configurations: Petri dishes, PCR plates, microfuge tubes, 96/384-well plates, and more.
6. Proprietary plating and streaking tip
Gently streaks colonies across agar surfaces with precision, preserving plate quality and minimizing disruption to delicate media.
7. Compact, chamber-ready footprint
Sized for benchtops and hypoxic chamber use (25.2 x 21.6 x 27.6 in), allowing full automation even in space-constrained or anaerobic environments.
FAQs
What is QPix FLEX?
QPix FLEX is a compact, automated microbial colony picker designed to streamline microbial screening workflows, combining plating, picking, streaking, and liquid handling into one flexible system.
It features a high-resolution color camera for morphology and color-based colony selection, a 4-channel pipetting system, and a modular deck compatible with both sterilizable and disposable tips. Its small footprint allows it to operate on the benchtop or inside hypoxic and anaerobic chambers, making it ideal for academic labs, biotech startups, and any team with limited space.
What are some of the applications for QPix FLEX?
- Microbial clone screening
- Microbial strain isolation and characterization
- Antibiotic resistance testing
- Protein/enzyme expression studies
- Microbiome research
- Synthetic Biology
- Ag-Bio
- Pharmaceutical research
This system is ideal for applications like:
How does QPix FLEX maintain sterility during picking process?
The QPix FLEX accommodates an ultrasonic washer containing three toughs for sanitization liquids to sterilize the metal/sterilizable picking pins. The instrument also has two UV-LED arrays and an optional HEPA filter to sanitize the instrument’s interior to eliminate any possible environmental contamination.
What are the key benefits of QPix FLEX?
Some of the key benefits of the QPix FLEX include: Colored + WL imaging, 4-channel expandable ADP for Liquid handling, Small foot print ideal for small spaces and hypoxic/anaerobic chambers, Sterilizable and disposable picking tips and Sample tracking.
What types of media are compatible with the QPix FLEX?
- Agar plates: Such as Nutrient Agar, MacConkey Agar, and Blood Agar.
- Selective media: E.g., MacConkey Agar for Gram-negative bacteria.
- Differential media: E.g., Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) Agar.
- Enriched media: E.g., Blood Agar or Chocolate Agar, ideal for fastidious organisms.
- Specialty media: Including media for growing anaerobic bacteria
The QPix FLEX can work with a variety of solid/liquid media used for growing microorganisms, including:
How can the QPix FLEX support microbiome research?
The QPix FLEX is a powerful tool for microbiome research, enabling researchers to isolate and analyze microbial colonies with precision. Its advanced color camera ensures accurate detection of diverse colony types, even within complex microbiome samples, helping uncover insights into microbial communities and their roles in human health and the environment. And because of its compact size, it’s made for space-limited environments, including hypoxic and anaerobic chambers.
Why is the color camera a key feature of the QPix FLEX?
The advanced color camera in the QPix FLEX provides unparalleled accuracy in colony detection and differentiation. It allows researchers to identify colonies based on subtle color variations, which is crucial for distinguishing between different microbial species or strains. This capability is especially valuable in microbiome studies and food safety applications.
How does the QPix FLEX contribute to food safety research?
The QPix FLEX automates the isolation and analysis of microbial colonies, helping researchers identify contaminants or pathogens in food samples quickly and accurately. This reduces the time required for testing and ensures consistent, reliable results, supporting efforts to enhance food safety and prevent outbreaks of bacteria, like e.coli and klebsiella.
Can the QPix FLEX aid in understanding diseases linked to microbiomes?
Yes, the QPix FLEX is an essential tool for studying the role of microbiomes in diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, and certain cancers. By isolating and analyzing specific microbial strains, researchers can better understand how these organisms contribute to disease development and explore potential therapeutic interventions.
How does the QPix FLEX enhance research on antimicrobial resistance?
The QPix FLEX enhances research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by offering exceptional versatility and the unique ability to operate within anaerobic chambers, which is essential for studying obligate anaerobes often implicated in resistant infections. Its compact footprint and sealed design make it ideal for placement inside these controlled environments, allowing researchers to isolate and analyze bacteria without exposing them to oxygen.
By automating colony picking, plating, and streaking in a single platform, the QPix FLEX reduces manual effort and improves reproducibility, critical for high-throughput AMR studies and mutant library screening. The integrated high-resolution color camera supports precise assessment of colony morphology, enabling researchers to identify and select bacterial strains based on size, shape, and pigmentation, characteristics that often correlate with resistance traits. Additionally, its small form factor and modular design make it well-suited for academic labs and early-stage biotech companies, expanding access to advanced AMR research tools in space-limited settings.
What makes the QPix FLEX unique compared to other microbial colony pickers?
The QPix FLEX stands out as the smallest and most versatile member of the QPix 400 series. Its compact design makes it ideal for labs with limited space, especially in academia and startups. It features an advanced color camera for precise colony visualization and a 4-channel pipetting system. Plus, it’s fully compatible with hypoxic chambers, offering flexibility for a wide range of workflows.
How does the QPix FLEX streamline colony picking workflows?
The QPix FLEX simplifies workflows by integrating colony picking, plating, and streaking processes into a single automated system. This eliminates the need for multiple instruments and reduces hands-on time, allowing researchers to focus on analysis and decision-making. It’s a powerful tool for increasing efficiency in microbial research, especially in labs with high-throughput demands.
Is the QPix FLEX suitable for use in hypoxic chambers?
Yes, absolutely. The QPix FLEX is fully compatible with hypoxic chambers, making it a perfect solution for researchers working with anaerobic organisms. Its compact design and advanced features ensure reliable performance, even in these specialized environments.
Who is the QPix FLEX designed for?
The QPix FLEX is designed with small labs, academic researchers, and startups in mind. It’s perfect for teams looking to maximize productivity without requiring a large footprint or budget. With its advanced features, it’s also great for scaling workflows as research needs grow.
What types of colonies can the QPix FLEX handle?
The QPix FLEX can handle a wide range of colonies, from bacterial and yeast colonies to other microbial organisms. Its advanced imaging system ensures accurate colony detection, even for smaller or harder-to-detect colonies like candida and Klesiella, making it incredibly versatile for various research applications.
How does the QPix FLEX fit into synthetic biology workflows?
The QPix FLEX is an ideal tool for synthetic biology workflows. It automates and accelerates key steps like colony picking and streaking, helping researchers save time while ensuring high accuracy. This makes it an essential part of creating reproducible results in applications like CRISPR, plasmid production, ag-bio, and microbial engineering.
How can I order QPix FLEX or request a demo?
You can contact our sales team.
Latest Resources
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Customer Breakthrough
QPix FLEX molecular cloning workflow
Molecular cloning is often slowed down by tedious, manual steps – plating, streaking, and colony picking – that not only eat up time but also introduce inconsistencies and contamination risks. The QPix FLEX work cell turns those bottlenecks into breakthroughs by automating every step of microbial screening with a compact, chamber-compatible design. Equipped with a high-resolution color camera for morphology-based colony selection, a versatile 4-channel pipetting system for liquid handling, and barcode-enabled traceability, the QPix FLEX system delivers accuracy, reproducibility, and efficiency where traditional workflows fall short. Whether operating in standard labs or hypoxic environments, the QPix FLEX system streamlines cloning, boosts throughput, and frees researchers to focus on discovery rather than repetitive tasks.
