Mission Short

IsoraLabs introduces the IsoraPlate: a smarter well plate that prevents cross-contamination and seamlessly integrates with automated liquid-handling systems. It delivers faster experiments and cleaner data, accelerating next-generation therapies and scientific discovery.

The Challenge

Microplates are essential tools in biotechnology, pharmacology, diagnostics, and biomedical research. These standardized plates, containing many small wells, allow researchers to run multiple experiments in parallel, supporting high-throughput screening, cell culture, and automated liquid-handling workflows. Microplates have enabled faster discovery and widespread adoption of automation in modern laboratories. Despite decades of optimization, traditional microplates still face several limitations that reduce experimental reliability, reproducibility, and scalability, particularly in automated or high-sensitivity applications. For example, material can unintentionally transfer between wells through splashes, aerosols, or pipette tips, leading to cross-contamination that distorts assay results, produces false positives or negatives, and can compromise entire experiments. Studies identify well-to-well contamination as a major source of error in microplate-based workflows (1, 2, 3). Evaporation further complicates outcomes, particularly in outer wells where liquid loss occurs more rapidly than in central wells, creating concentration differences that affect biological responses or chemical reactions and introduce systematic variability (4, 5). The integrity of standard lids and adhesive seals is another concern; they can fail during manual handling or robotic operation, allowing contamination, evaporation, or sample loss, and best practices emphasize minimizing seal removal to maintain sample integrity (2, 6). Additionally, plastic microplates may release small chemical compounds, or extractables and leachables, that interfere with sensitive assays by altering fluorescence, enzymatic activity, or cell behavior, with material composition and manufacturing processes contributing to these artefacts (7, 8). Even when using automated liquid handlers to reduce human pipetting error, plates not specifically designed for robotic workflows can exacerbate risks of splashes, carry-over, and lid disturbances, amplifying the likelihood of contamination and experimental variability (3). These limitations result in failed experiments, repeated runs, wasted reagents, delayed timelines, and reduced confidence in results. In high-throughput screening, cell-based assays, and regulated workflows, these inefficiencies have substantial cost and time implications. Because microplates are foundational to so many experimental systems, improving their design represents a high-impact opportunity to enhance reproducibility, efficiency, and reliability in modern research. References: 1. Auld DS, Coassin PA, Coussens NP, Hensley P, Klumpp-Thomas C, Michael S, et al. Microplate Selection and Recommended Practices in High-throughput Screening and Quantitative Biology [Internet]. Markossian S, Sittampalam GS, Grossman A, Brimacombe K, Arkin M, Auld D, et al., editors. PubMed. Bethesda (MD): Eli Lilly & Company and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; 2020. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK558077/ 2. Jones E, Michael S, G. Sitta Sittampalam. Basics of Assay Equipment and Instrumentation for High Throughput Screening [Internet]. Nih.gov. Eli Lilly & Company and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; 2016. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92014/ ‌3. Brennan C, Belda-Ferre P, Zuffa S, Charron-Lamoureux V, Mohanty I, Ackermann G, et al. Clearing the plate: a strategic approach to mitigate well-to-well contamination in large-scale microbiome studies. mSystems. 2024 Sep 16;9(10). 4. Agilent Technologies, Inc. Evaluation of Edge Effects and Evaporation from Agilent Seahorse XF Pro M Cell Culture Plates [Internet]. Agilent.com. 2022. Available from: https://www.agilent.com/cs/library/technicaloverviews/public/te-evaluation-of-edge-effect-cell-analysis-5994-4697en-agilent.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOoogUExvpC-ghiecgecvW1FPDLxkZidga_KY62kDmLWDZ3_AC1PO 5. Mansoury M, Hamed M, Karmustaji R, Al Hannan F, Safrany ST. The edge effect: A global problem. The trouble with culturing cells in 96-well plates. Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports. 2021 Jul;26:100987. 6. Douglas S. Auld PD, Peter A. Coassin BS, Nathan P. Coussens PD, Hensley P, Klumpp-Thomas C, Michael S, et al. Figure 7. [Microplate covering considerations. (A) Condensation...]. [Internet]. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. 2020 [cited 2022 Jul 26]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK558077/figure/microplates.F7/ ‌7. Weikart CM, Klibanov AM, Breeland AP, Taha AH, Maurer BR, Martin SP. Plasma-Treated Microplates with Enhanced Protein Recoveries and Minimized Extractables. SLAS Technology [Internet]. 2022 Mar 31;22(1):98–105. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2472630322012924 ‌8. Hill EJ, Martin SJ, Weikart CM. Characterization of Extractable Species from Polypropylene Microplates. SLAS TECHNOLOGY. 2018 May 3;23(6):560–5. ‌

The solution

Our solution introduces a new approach to well plate design that addresses common sources of contamination, instability, and inefficiency in laboratory workflows. At IsoraLabs, we develop smarter and more reliable labware that enhances reproducibility and streamlines experiments across diverse research fields. Our first innovation, the IsoraPlate, represents a modern generation of well plates engineered for improved precision, cleaner handling, and full compatibility with liquid handlers and lab automation systems. By strengthening reliability at the core of experimental work, the IsoraPlate enables scientists to achieve consistent results, reduce waste, and accelerate progress in both scientific discovery and technological development.