Poster
Automated medium exchange for 3D-cell culture with 5 µL residual volume in Akura™ 384-well plates
Presented at SLAS 2026 in Boston
WASH+
Automated Media Exchange for 3D Cell Culture:
Zero Loss, Maximum Throughput
What is WASH+?
WASH+ is a patent pending cassette-based add-on for the INTEGRA WELLJET that automates gentle medium exchange in 96- and 384-well 3D cell culture plates. It aspirates spent medium from the meniscus and dispenses fresh medium along the well wall to minimize disturbance and tissue loss in spheroids, organoids, and other non-adherent cultures without retrofitting the instrument.
Key specifications
- Residual volume down to 5 µL
- 20+ plates/hour
- 96- and 384-well-plate compatible
- No WELLJET modifications required
See it in action
Experience how the WASH+ streamlines and improves your cell culture workflows, by truly automating the media exchange step. Our system can be mounted on any existing WELLJET and runs with all major labware.
Get a quoteMain applications of WASH+
Medium exchange for spheroids and organoids
Gentle, low-shear media replacement that entirely prevents tissue loss, leaving non-adherent structures undisturbed.
Washing of semi-adherent cells
Controlled aspiration and dispensing along the well wall to protect weakly bound cell layers from detaching.
Compatible instrumentation and labware
WASH+ is compatible with INTEGRA WELLJET base units and dispenser stackers without requiring any physical modifications.
It supports U-bottom, V-bottom, and flat-bottom formats in 96- and 384-well configurations.
How It Works
WASH+ converts a standard INTEGRA WELLJET into a gentle medium exchange system for organoids, spheroids, and other sensitive 3D cell cultures. Using a precision-bent needle and a proprietary passive valve system, WASH+ removes used medium and adds fresh medium with minimal disturbance to the sample.
For setup, place the fresh-medium feed lines into your medium reservoir and connect the waste line to the instrument waste outlet. The medium exchange workflow then runs automatically in four steps. Typical processing time is ~2 minutes for 96-well plates and ~5 minutes for 384-well plates. With stacker integration, WASH+ can automate medium exchange for 20+ plates, providing up to ~1 hour of walk-away time.
- AGentle used medium aspirationA precision-bent needle is carefully lowered into the well while used medium is aspirated from the liquid surface. This helps protect the culture at the bottom of the well. The liquid is guided to the waste of the machine by our patented passive valving concept.
- BLeaving defined residual volumeThe needle stops at a preset position, leaving behind a controlled amount of liquid. This residual volume can be tuned for the application. The process repeats for the full plate.
- CFlushing and primingOutside the plate, the system is flushed and primed with fresh medium to reduce carryover between aspiration and refill.
- DGentle Medium DispenseFresh medium is dispensed along the wall of the well while the needle moves upward. This controlled refill minimizes disturbance to delicate samples.
Get the brochure
Want to understand the WASH+ and its features better? Get the full brochure here or contact us for further questions and requests!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Use cases and benefits
WASH+ is used for automated, gentle medium exchange and washing in 96- and 384-well plates. It is especially useful for sensitive cell culture workflows where manual medium exchange can lead to sample loss or poor reproducibility.
WASH+ is best suited for gentle medium exchange in 3D cell culture workflows, especially for spheroids, organoids, and other non-adherent cultures. It is designed for applications where sample retention and low disturbance are critical.
WASH+ combines controlled aspiration with gentle wall-side dispense to reduce disturbance during medium exchange. This helps protect delicate non-adherent structures such as spheroids and organoids far better than standard washing approaches.
Compared with manual medium exchange, WASH+ is faster, more reproducible, and gentler on sensitive cultures. It also reduces hands-on time and can provide up to about one hour of true walk-away automation.
Yes. Compared with standard methods and manual pipetting, WASH+ typically results in less tissue loss. In many workflows, no relevant tissue loss is observed during operation.
Yes. WASH+ is well suited for non-adherent cultures and can also be used for loosely adherent or adherent cells, depending on the assay and the chosen settings.
The name WASH+ reflects that the system does more than simple washing. It enables gentle, reliable, and automated medium exchange that improves reproducibility and reduces manual effort. The product is also sometimes searched for or referred to as Wash+, WashPlus or Wash Plus.
2. Compatibility and setup
WASH+ is currently compatible with the INTEGRA WELLJET, with or without stacker. A WELLJET is required to operate the system.
WASH+ consists of a WASH+ cassette for the WELLJET and a control module based on a Microsoft Surface tablet. Together, these components enable automated washing and medium exchange workflows.
No. WASH+ does not require any physical modification or retrofitting of the WELLJET. You install the cassette, connect the control tablet, and the system is ready to use.
In many cases, yes. WASH+ is compatible with a wide range of 96- and 384-well plates. Contact us with your plate type, and we can check compatibility or discuss adding it to the library.
The cassette is mounted directly onto the WELLJET. For step-by-step instructions, please refer to our installation guide.
Initial installation typically takes less than one hour. Day-to-day setup is usually much faster and is typically in the range of 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the workflow and whether pre-flushing or sterilization steps are required.
3. Workflow and flexibility
Yes. Users can define as many wash cycles as needed within the protocol. This allows WASH+ to support both simple and more demanding wash workflows.
Yes. Aspiration and dispense speeds can be adjusted to fit the sensitivity of the sample and the geometry of the plate.
Yes. We provide starting protocols, but users can adapt or create protocols to match different cell models, plate types, and workflow requirements.
4. Performance and practical details
The residual volume can be tuned to the needs of the application. Currently, we have demonstrated residual volumes down to 5 µL in Akura™ plates from InSphero.
The speed can be adjusted depending on the workflow. Typical fast operation is about 2 minutes for a 96-well plate and about 5 minutes for a 384-well plate.
Yes. WASH+ is patent pending.
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Contact us for more info
Do you have specific requirements, questions about labware compatibility, or need a custom solution? Our engineering and science team is ready to help you optimize your 3D cell culture workflows.