See the Colonies Others Miss.
Smart colony picking for microbiomes - directly from your benchtop or your hypoxic chamber.
The QPix® FLEX™ Microbial Colony Picker combines plating, streaking, picking, and liquid handling in one compact, integrated system. With advanced color imaging, it enables faster identification of the right colonies. Designed to fit on a benchtop or within a hypoxic chamber, the QPix FLEX system replaces fragmented workflows with a streamlined solution, engineered to advance your research.
Your research deserves more than manual guesswork.
Whether you're advancing microbiome studies, engineering microbial strains, or driving innovation in synthetic biology, traditional workflows can introduce delays and inconsistencies. The QPix FLEX system is designed to eliminate these bottlenecks, allowing you to focus on science, not sample preparation.
Five instruments? No longer necessary.
Challenge: Fragmented workflows using multiple instruments increase variability and contamination risk.
Solution: End-to-end automation, in a single system.
Plating, streaking, colony picking, hit picking, and liquid handling are fully automated, saving you up to 8 hours per day while ensuring reproducibility and consistency.
Stop guessing. Start picking with confidence.
Challenge: Manual colony picking is time-consuming and prone to error.
Solution: High-resolution color imaging with white light detection.
Classify colonies based on morphology and pigmentation to select only the most viable strains, reducing rework and improving outcomes.
Automation inside hypoxic chambers.
Challenge: Most lab automation systems are incompatible with hypoxic or anaerobic environments.
Solution: Compact, chamber-ready design.
The QPix FLEX system operates seamlessly within hypoxic chambers, enabling fully automated colony picking in low-oxygen conditions.
Maintain full traceability.
Challenge: Manual tracking of colonies is inefficient and prone to error.
Solution: Integrated 2D barcode reader.
Ensure complete traceability across every plate and pick, supporting reproducibility and compliance in regulated workflows.
Introducing the all-new QPix FLEX
Smart design meets powerful functionality.
1. High-resolution color and white-light camera
Enables precise colony classification based on morphology and pigmentation, making it ideal for phenotype-based selection and microbial diversity screening.
2. Multi-function pipetting head (4-channel)
Automates media dispensing, plating, cherry picking, and streaking, minimising manual handling and sample preparation consistency.
3. Swappable tip system
Switch between sterilizable metal pins and disposable tips to meet your requirements for sterility, sustainability, or budget.
4. Integrated barcode reader
Built-in 2D barcode scanning ensures traceability from plating to downstream analysis.
5. Modular labware deck
Supports flexible source and destination labware configurations: Petri dishes, PCR plates, microfuge tubes, 96/384-well plates, and more.
6. Proprietary plating and streaking tip
Gently streaks colonies across agar surfaces with precision, preserving plate quality and minimizing disruption to delicate media.
7. Compact, chamber-ready footprint
Sized for benchtops and hypoxic chambers (25.2 x 21.6 x 27.6 in), ideal for full automation in space-constrained or anaerobic environments.
8. Automation-ready connectivity
API integration enables connection to robotic arms or full lab automation systems for extended walkaway time and higher throughput.
Why choose QPix FLEX?
Precision Picking with Phenotypic Insight
Advanced imaging enables smarter, more selective colony picking, eliminating guesswork.
End-to-End Automation in One Device
Consolidates multiple instruments into one streamlined system, saving time and reducing variability.
Compact and Hypoxic Chamber-Ready
Designed for low-oxygen environments, ideal for microbiome research.
Flexibility on Your Terms
Choose between reusable or disposable tips—balancing sterility, sustainability, and cost.
Pick. Plate. Streak. Learn More Now.
One Instrument. Every Step. Built for Microbiomes.
End-to-end automation inside and outside hypoxic chambers.
Talk to our experts to explore other microbial colony picking solutions
QPix LH-AWES
The QPix LH-AWES is engineered for high-throughput environments, providing robust solutions for microbial screening and colony picking.
- Automated high-throughput screening: Screens up to 30,000 colonies per day.
- Advanced imaging technology: Utilizes high-resolution imaging for precise colony identification and selection.
- Integrated data management: Integrates for efficient data tracking and analysis.
- Customizable workflows: Flexible software allows for customization.
QPix 450/460
From plating to picking, the QPix 450 and 460 Microbial Colony Pickers offer unparalleled throughput and efficiency, perfect for high-demand laboratory environments.
- Increased throughput: Process up to 210 destination plates.
- Flexible stacker options: Up to 3 stacker lanes available.
- Extended walkaway time: Pick 14,976 colonies in 4.5 hours.
- Optional fluidics: Integrates plating and streaking seamlessly.
QPix XE
The QPix XE system is a compact solution designed for efficient microbial colony picking, suitable for smaller labs or specific applications.
- Space-saving design: Compact footprint ideal for laboratories with limited space.
- Accurate colony selection: Ensures precise picking with advanced imaging technology.
- User-friendly operation: Simplifies the colony picking process with an easy-to-use interface.
- More than just colony picking: Do more, like plate replication and hit picking.
Accelerate Your CRISPR Genome Editing Workflow
Unlock the full potential of CRISPR with QPix™ systems. Whether you're performing gene knockouts, knock-ins, or screening edited clones, our automated colony pickers streamline the entire process—from transformation to clone isolation—saving you time and increasing accuracy.
Why QPix for CRISPR?
- High-throughput screening of edited colonies with precision and speed
- Automated imaging and picking to reduce manual errors and variability
- Seamless integration with downstream genotyping and sequencing workflows
Applications include:
- Functional genomics
- Disease modelling
- Cell line development
- Synthetic biology
Ready to scale your CRISPR experiments? Discover how QPix can transform your genome editing pipeline.
Empower Synthetic Biology with Scalable Automation
From DNA assembly to strain engineering, our solutions are designed to accelerate every stage of your synthetic biology workflow. Whether you're building novel pathways or optimizing microbial production, Molecular Devices offers the tools to help you scale with confidence.
Key Benefits:
- Automated colony picking and screening to streamline strain selection
- High-throughput workflows for faster design-build-test cycles
- Flexible integration with your existing synthetic biology platforms
Applications include:
- Metabolic engineering
- Protein expression optimization
- Microbial strain development
- Biofoundry automation
Discover how our technologies can help you go from concept to construct—faster and more efficiently.
Customer Success Stories
Fermentalg® uses QPix® 420 colony picker to leverage microalgae metabolism to produce natural food dyes
Recognizing the need for a time-saving and labor-efficient method, Fermentalg made a groundbreaking decision to equip its laboratories with a high throughput screening platform. This platform enabled them to streamline their screening process and optimize their industrial strains effectively. A crucial component of this platform is the QPix 420 instrument, which revolutionized the colony picking step.
Inscripta enables scientists to perform digital genome editing
Inscripta’s vision is to democratize scalable genome editing to the world by offering a holistic platform consisting of software, instrument, reagents, & consumables to enable forward engineering solutions that are faster, easier, & more cost-effective for their customers. Using the QPix 420, customers may effectively generate and screen phenotypic diversity to enable successful bioeconomy solutions for the next generation of synthetic biology companies.
Molecular Devices: A life science company
We're a trusted life sciences partner to researchers around the world
