AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES SYNERGY NEO2 HYBRID MULTI-MODE MICROPLATE READER

The Stokes lab at McMaster University has a requirement for a dedicated multimode microplate reader platform to support its AI-driven antibiotic discovery research program. This instrument is required to enable high-throughput chemical screening, kinetic growth assays, and fluorescence- and luminescence-based readouts in 96-well and 384-well plate formats. The requested infrastructure will be used to generate the large-scale, high-quality biological training data that underpin the lab’s predictive and generative AI models for the discovery and design of structurally and functionally novel antibacterial molecules. The Stokes lab’s broader research program is centered on developing and applying leading-edge AI methods to accelerate antibiotic discovery against drug-resistant pathogens, and the multimode plate reader is one of the three core pieces of infrastructure that together form the lab’s integrated AI-driven antibiotic discovery platform.

With the requested multimode plate reader, the Stokes lab will be positioned to perform kinetic experiments in which chemical screening data are gathered over time rather than only at a terminal endpoint. This is important because time-resolved growth data are expected to produce more robust AI models that can learn from dynamic phenotypic responses rather than binary growth/no-growth outputs alone. Dedicated access to this infrastructure will also allow the lab to scale screening far beyond current constraints, enabling chemical screens on >100,000 molecules without needing to navigate around heavily booked communal equipment. In the lab’s JELF proposal, this increased access is directly tied to its plan to expand training-data acquisition 10-fold, thereby creating what is intended to be the most robust antibiotic training dataset in the world for clinically relevant ESKAPE pathogen isolates. This infrastructure is therefore essential not only for ongoing work, but also to ensure that the Stokes lab remains globally competitive and world-leading in AI-guided antibiotic discovery.

The proposedsystem includes the Agilent Technologies Synergy Neo2 Hybrid Multi-Mode Microplate Reader, model N2SM-SN, together with the Agilent BioStack NEO White Stacker, the Agilent BioStack 30-Plate Stack Set for Unlidded Plates, the Agilent Multi-Volume Take3 Plate, and Agilent three (3) years extended warranty. This specific configuration is required because the research program depends on a single integrated platform that supports absorbance, fluorescence, and luminescence measurements; temperature-controlled incubation; shaking; and automated plate handling for high-throughput screening workflows. The Synergy Neo2 configuration includes top and bottom variable bandwidth monochromator-based fluorescence intensity, top filter-based fluorescence intensity, monochromator UV-Vis absorbance, luminescence, filtered luminescence, time-resolved fluorescence, and fluorescence polarization, with incubation to 70°C and shaking included.

The purpose of this Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is to signal McMaster University’s intention to award a contract for the above-noted goods and/or services to the following pre-selected supplier:

Fisher Scientific
PO Box 9200, Terminal
Ottawa, ON K1G 4A9
Tel:  437-577-7257
Website:  www.fishersci.ca
 

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