The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) international conference (SLAS2025) concluded on Wednesday 29 January.

Award winners

Congratulations to the 2025 SLAS Ignite Award winner, InSimili. The Ignite Award is given to the most promising Innovation AveNEW for Startups participant and is scored on marketing presence, message, market opportunity/level of innovation, impact, funding and balanced leadership. InSimili also received a $5,000 cash prize.

In addition, three companies were named SLAS2025 New Product Award winners. Finalists were judged on the market opportunity, impact, originality and proof of concept of their product. All entries must be on the market within 90 days of the start or completion of SLAS2025. Congratulations to this year’s winners:

  • n6 for iconPCR
  • Portal Biotechnologies for The Galaxy Platform
  • Semarion for SemaCyte Microcarriers
Ignite Theatre

The DDW Concept to Cure Ignite Theatre hosted one final presentation. ‘Better Storage Management for All’ was presented by Kathi Shea, Vice President and General Manager of Sample and Repository Services at Azenta. She discussed how optimised sample management workflows empower researchers to manage their work better, while recovering critical research time. She explained how delegates can manage the culture shift along the way with fit-for-purpose storage solutions, enabling breakthroughs faster.

Announcements

ABB Robotics and Agilent Technologies announced a collaboration agreement to deliver automated laboratory solutions. Working together, the companies will provide joint solutions to automate repetitive, labour-intensive tasks such as sample handling, testing, and data processing to enable faster time-to-market and higher productivity.

“By combining Agilent’s state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation and laboratory software solutions with ABB’s advanced robotics, we will empower laboratories to operate with greater speed, precision, and flexibility,” said Marc Segura, President ABB Robotics Division. “By using our robots to automate key processes, this partnership will enable companies to introduce new approaches to carrying out key laboratory tasks. This will improve efficiency and free up laboratory teams to take on more rewarding work.”

Meet the Exhibitor: Sphere Fluidics

The sponsored DDW Meet the Exhibitor Vodcast is a series of interviews from key industry events. Here, Megan Thomas, Multimedia Editor at DDW, interviews Jay Gerlach, VP of Marketing at Sphere Fluidics, in the lead up to SLAS2025 in San Diego.

At SLAS2025, you will have the opportunity to meet the team from Sphere Fluidics to discuss the company, its products, and key opportunities in drug discovery with which the company can assist.