Submitted:
01 April 2026
Posted:
02 April 2026
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Abstract
Background: The growing demand for versatile laboratory automation is exemplified in the context of liquid biopsy, where multi-analyte approaches are increasingly recognised for their potential to enhance diagnostic sensitivity in oncology. However, current practice often necessitates the use of dedicated instruments and workflows for the extraction of each analyte, posing financial and logistical barriers for automated multi-analyte liquid biopsy. Methods: Here, we present Robotic Centrifugal Microfluidics (RoCM), an all-in-one platform that combines the versatility of centrifugal microfluidics and operational flexibility of robotic liquid handling. This combination enables the automation of complex micro- and macrofluidic protocols, realised through the use of (1.) exchangeable microfluidic cartridges and (2.) programmable robotic operations such as in-rotation liquid supply, magnetic bead manipulation, or microfluidic valving. In-rotation robotic liquid manipulation maintains fluid control under centrifugal forces and reduces the cartridge footprint associated with pre-loaded liquid reservoirs. Platform applicability was demonstrated using two exemplary liquid biopsy workflows: the extraction of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from blood plasma using RoCM-cfDNA slices and the extraction of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from blood plasma using RoCM-EV slices. Results: In a pilot study with patient samples from different cancer entities, the RoCM-cfDNA slices yielded comparable variant allele frequencies to a commercial bead-based instrument, while the RoCM-EV slices achieved a recovery of a greater diversity of EV subpopulations and up to one magnitude higher recovery than semi-automated size exclusion chromatography. Conclusion: By simply exchanging cartridges, RoCM enables the extraction of diverse analytes within a single automated system. Its application can be extended to further analytes, such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs), or to applications beyond liquid biopsies, where versatile micro- and macrofluidic protocols benefit from implementation in a single automation instrument.
Keywords:
centrifugal microfluidics
; robotic
; lab-on-chip
; cell-free DNA (cfDNA)
; extracellular vesicles
; instrumentation
; automation
; liquid handling
; liquid biopsy
; valving
; multi-analyte
; sample preparation
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
