LABOMAR CASE STUDY

LABOMAR SPA – Gluten is no longer a problem for analysts

The company

Labomar deals with production on behalf of third parties, providing a complete service from the selection of raw materials to the delivery of the finished product. The beating heart of its business is Research and Development, in order to guarantee innovation and quality at all times.
The company has more than 200 employees, 20 of which are employed in the R&D and regulatory departments.

Initial conditions

For individuals with coeliac disease or other food intolerances, supplements have proven to be essential to ensure the right intake of vitamins and minerals. According to numerous scientific publications, the nutritional value of gluten-free foods is poorer in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), so a supplement can help people to achieve a more balanced diet.

In this sector, the ELISA technique is used to search for traces of gluten in supplements that have been declared gluten-free. Labomar has always performed this test manually.

The problem is that the method itself is long and laborious, and the laboratories of production companies are often lacking in the proper human resources.

Solution

Automade proposed to install an ELISA test automation tool that met Labomar's current needs.

The Stratego analyzer has allowed the various steps involved in the ELISA method in a completely automated way, including the predilution step that is required upstream of plate dispensing.

Since gluten is dangerous for coeliac sufferers even in very low quantities, from the outset the client appreciated the fact that Stratego eliminates any possible cross-contamination or carry-over errors thanks to the use of disposable tips, both for plate-based sample dispensing and for dispensing all the reagents and conjugates required by the method itself. The washing phase is likewise free from such problems, as there are 8 pins dedicated to dispensing the washing solution and another 8 pins dedicated to aspirating it from the microplate well.

Results

Stratego has enabled Labomar's QC laboratory operators to perform more tests using the same amount of resources and to devote their time to performing other testing tasks previously outsourced to third-party laboratories, leading to a further reduction in QC costs. Numerically, automation has saved approximately 4 man-hours per session.