KingFisher Presto

The KingFisher Presto performs magnetic bead-based purification of DNA, RNA and protein. Magnetic rods covered by a disposable tip comb move the beads between plates, rather than liquid moving between vessels — so there is no pipetting and nothing to carry over. A turntable with two nests lets one side be loaded or unloaded while the other runs.

At a glance

Type	Magnetic bead-based purification processor
Samples per run	96 or 24
Revolution control	Run a full protocol or a single step; present a nest, rotate, position by name, clear errors

Specifications

Thermo Fisher publishes the following.

Volume range	50–5000 µL
Heating	For applications requiring elevated temperatures
Automation	Minimised size for fitting to automation systems; connects to several liquid handling instruments
Width	14.2 in
Height	15.7 in
Depth	18.3 in
Weight	52.9 lb

Supported methods

• Run protocol — run a purification protocol end to end, from a protocol file. Unlike the Flex, the Presto’s controller has no run-report export, so no report file is produced.
• Run step — run a single step of a protocol, identified by a tip name and step name. Running steps individually lets a schedule interleave other work — or handle a plate change — between stages, instead of committing the instrument for the whole protocol.
• Move to position number — present turntable nest 1 or 2 at the load/unload position
• Move to position name — move to a named position (the trailing digit of the name gives the nest, 1 or 2)
• Rotate — rotate the turntable to the other nest (an unconditional 180° swap; there is no target position to choose)
• Clear error — acknowledge the instrument’s error state so a run can be retried. This does not fix the underlying cause — the operator must resolve that (e.g. load tips) before clearing the error, or the instrument will report the error again.

Positioning by name or number is both supported. Names survive a protocol being re-ordered; numbers do not. Prefer names where your protocols define them.

Integration

Prerequisites

• The instrument must be reachable from the Revolution host.
• The purification protocol the schedule runs must already be defined in Thermo Fisher’s software.
• Tip combs and plates must be loaded for the protocol — a bead-based run with no tip comb moves nothing.
• Locations picked from or placed to the instrument must be named with a trailing digit giving the turntable nest (1 or 2), e.g. KingFisher1_1, KingFisher1_2.
• If the instrument is in an error state, clear it before retrying — after fixing whatever caused it physically.

Device configuration

Property	Purpose
Url	Address of the controller service the Revolution host connects to
Instrument Name	Serial number identifying which physical instrument to connect to — several units can share one PC, each with its own controller host

If you need more of this instrument driven from a schedule, get in touch — the driver is extended on demand.