Flexible and Precise Reagent Dispensing

The Tempest is a consumable-free, non-contact, multipurpose liquid dispenser that leverages microdiaphragm pump and continuous flow chip technologies for high-throughput liquid dispensing. It allows researchers to dispense up to 12 different reagents simultaneously through 96 independently controlled outputs, delivering any volume of any reagent, into any well.

Reduce Costs

Miniaturize reactions with tipless dispensing

Reproducible and Accurate

Dispense volumes down to 200 nL at CV < 5%

Versatile and Flexible

Reagent dispensing for a broad range of applications

Benefits

Precision: Uses non-contact microfluidic technology, ensuring high accuracy and precision across a broad range of reagent types, including cells and beads

Speed: Dispense up to 12 reagents across 96 individually controlled nozzles in just seconds. e.g., 200 nL to a 96-well plate in 3 seconds; 1 μL to 384-well plate in 5 seconds. Fill a 96-deep-well plate with 2 mL per well in under 2 minutes

High Throughput: Stackers and barcode reader for automated high throughput screening workflows

Flexibility: The Tempest supports diverse inputs (pipette tips, tubes) and reagents (cells, beads, harsh chemicals), and is compatible with all SBS plates.

Low Dead-Volume: Non-recoverable dead volume as low as 48 μL per chip

Cost Savings: Miniaturize assay design to reduce reagent usage, while tip-free, easy-to-clean components eliminate the need for consumables

Biosafety Cabinet Compatible: With its compact dimensions (555 mm x 309.67 mm x 266.56 mm), the Tempest can be used in various biosafety cabinets to accommodate workflows that require this level of safety

Automation-Friendly: Integrate with external systems effortlessly with a network API

Broad Range of Applications

High Throughput Screening (HTS)
Assay Development and Design of Experiment (DoE)
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA)
Polymerase Chain-reaction (PCR) Workflows - Real-time and Digital
Biochemical assay development and screening
Cell Culture and Bead-Based Assays
Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) - Library Preparation

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State-of-the-art Dispensing Technology

At the core of each Tempest channel is a microdiaphragm pump that meters and dispenses discrete volumes of liquid. This valve cluster has two microdiaphragms (select either 200 nL and 1 μL, or 1 μL and 5 μL) that can fill and dispense as fast as 8 times per second. This technology is incredibly precise and can handle a wide range of viscosities.

Key Features
High Precision Low Volume Dispensing Minimize Reagent Waste Speed and Throughput Keep Cells and Beads Suspended	Integrate with External Systems Import CSV Templates Incubation Re-Stack Option No Consumables Micro-diaphragm Technology

Unparalleled Ease and Excellence

The Tempest Liquid Dispenser utilizes patented microdiaphragm pump technology to allow researchers to maximize workflow efficiency from genomics to high-throughput screening workflows.

Ease of Use: The Tempest software is extremely user-friendly allowing for easy experimental design. The standard gradient and backfill buttons make designing an experiment even easier and faster.

Cost Savings:

Miniaturize assay design and reduce reagent usage
Save precious reagents through low dead volumes
Prevent failed experiments with clog-free dispensing technology
Intuitive software interface and experimental design
No Consumables. All components can be easily cleaned and re-used

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“A fantastic instrument! We use the Tempest in our high throughput biochemical profiling service. The team now has an automated process for our reagent additions that requires certain concentrations to be added to a plate in a "cherry picking" type of methodology. What was once done by two individuals can now be done by one. The Tempest has worked great"

Chris Updike

Production Scientist

Save on Consumables with Tipless Dispensing

The Tempest uses a patented microdiaphragm pump that meters and dispenses discrete volumes of liquid. This valve cluster can fill and dispense as fast as 3 times per second. This proven technology is incredibly fast and precise.

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When Speed Matters

Each 8-nozzled microfluidic chip dispenses reagents rapidly with minimal waste. Most tasks are completed in fewer than 40 seconds:

Typical Dispense Rates

200 nL to 96-well plate = 3 seconds
200 nL to 384-well plate = 6 seconds
200 nL to 1536-well plate = 11 seconds
5 μL to 96-well plate = 4 seconds
1 uL to 384-well plate = 5 seconds
10 μL to 384-well plate = 9 seconds
20 μL to 384-well plate = 13 seconds

The Tempest can be customized to fit your application and budget. The system offers plate stackers, a bar code scanner, independent vs general controls, as well as any combination of up to 12 high (1 μL and 5 μL) or low volume (200 nL and 1 μL) microfluidic chips.

“The Tempest allowed us to significantly scale up our biochemical HTS capabilities and has proven to be a reliable and accurate dispenser. We love the Smart Batch delayed dispensing feature as it greatly facilitates assay development work and converting end-point assays into kinetic assays, providing us more insightful data! The versatility of the Tempest in improving multiple workflows can't be overstated!"

Omar Alkhatib

Senior Scientist II

Save Time on Your Dispenses with Continuous Flow

The Continuous Flow (CF) chip adds exceptionally fast plate filling to the Tempest system's trusted reliability and precise low-volume dispensing. The CF chip uses a pressurized reservoir to dispense a constant stream of liquid from all eight nozzle positions and can be installed alongside the standard diaphragm chips to provide a complete automation solution to your plate-filling needs.

The Tempest system also enables the use of up to 12 independent CF chips in a single dispense list. This allows for multiple reagents to be preloaded and dispensed in a controlled, sequential manner. With eight independently controlled nozzles per chip, you can dispense reagent gradients, vary well volumes across a plate, and tailor dispensing protocols for complex assays—making it ideal for high-throughput applications when integrated with plate stackers.

CV <3% across all eight nozzles when filling a 96-well plate
Adjustable flow rates, capable of >400 µL per second
Fill a 96-deep-well plate with 2 mL per well in under 2 minutes
Customize dispensing protocols for large reagent volumes, gradient design, and scalable throughput

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“We use the Tempest in a fully automated set-up for medium throughput quantitative analysis. The CVs are great and due to the ultra-low dead volume, we could dramatically reduce reagent costings. Furthermore, the very innovative and robust dispensing technology lead to reduced maintenance compared to the dispenser we used before. We are also very happy with the support by FORMULATRIX personnel. We definitely recommend the Tempest!”

Johannes Fels

Principle Scientist

Easy-to-use Software

The software provides a straightforward, user-friendly way to design and execute even the most complex dispensing protocols. The control software offers an intuitive visual layout of both the plate design and the hardware setup, and provides tools to create gradient designs and backfills. Microsoft Excel integration allows you to manually edit well volumes for additional control.

Common Applications

Sequencing Technologies

Miniaturize your cDNA synthesis and library preparation reactions, even with limited starting material.

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Cell & Bead-Based Assays

Gentle and even distribution of suspension, adherent and 3D cell cultures.

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PCR Technologies

Enhance the cost-effectiveness
of any qPCR plate preparation workflow.

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Assay Development & Screening

Simplify the evolution from assay design to drug discovery.

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Nucleic Acid Workflows

Automate nucleic acid workflows with precise, tipless dispensing.

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“The [Tempest] is easy to configure and offers a high degree of versatility for liquid handling tasks. Having the stackers and a time delay option is immensely helpful for biochemical screens and other applications. The software for plate teaching and creating protocols is very simple to work with“

JH

Researcher

Publications

Citations: 56Product: Tempest®

High-throughput screening reveals diverse lambdoid prophage inducers

Hynes et al., 2025 |Microbiology Spectrum |Link

Prophages dormant bacteriophage genomes integrated within the bacterial chromosome play pivotal roles in shaping microbial communities when awakened Our current understanding of prophage activation is largely shaped by a narrow set of traditional DNA-damaging inducers such as mitomycin C and ciprofloxacin which trigger the bacterial SOS response This study employed ...More |

Deep-learning-based virtual screening of antibacterial compounds

Scalia et al., 2025 |Nature Biotechnology |Link

The increase in multidrug-resistant bacteria underscores an urgent need for additional antibiotics Here we integrate small-molecule high-throughput screening with a deep-learning-based virtual screening approach to uncover new antibacterial compounds We screen million small molecules against a sensitized Escherichia coli strain yielding thousands of hits We use these data to train ...More |

Discovery and artificial intelligence-guided mechanistic elucidation of a narrow-spectrum antibiotic

Stokes et al., 2025 |Nature Microbiology |Link

Current clinical antibiotics are largely broad-spectrum agents that can alter the gut microbiome and promote colonization by Enterobacteriaceae which are often drug resistant This includes adherent-invasive Escherichia coli AIEC particularly in patients with inflammatory bowel disease in which dysbiosis creates a niche for this pathogen to colonize There is an ...More |

Fragment-Based Discovery and Structure-Led Optimization of MSC778, the First Potent, Selective, and Orally Bioavailable FEN1 Inhibitor

al. et al., 2025 |Journal of Medicinal Chemistry |Link

Flap endonuclease FEN is a long-standing target of interest in the DNA damage response DDR field due to its therapeutic potential in BRCA mutant cancers To-date there have only been a handful of FEN inhibitors reported in the literature most of which display modest selectivity and or weak cellular activity ...More |

An enzyme activity-based workflow for the identification and characterization of covalent inhibitors

Tang et al., 2025 |SLAS Discovery |Link

The field of covalent drug development has advanced rapidly offering promising therapeutic potential due to the ability of these drugs to form slowly reversible or irreversible bonds with target proteins resulting in prolonged pharmacodynamic effects This distinctive mechanism of action has sparked resurging interest in covalent inhibitors across various disease ...More |