Accelerating Pfizer’s Biotherapeutic Production Pipeline with Automation

DNA sequencing is a critical step in many Pfizer Bio-Medicine Design (BMD) workflows, from identifying screening hits to verifying plasmid sequences to stable cell line verification. Historically, sequencing was outsourced to external vendors using Sanger Sequencing, which was slow, costly, and unable to resolve mixed populations.

Since early 2023, Pfizer BMD has transitioned to an in-house Oxford Nanopore sequencing pipeline integrated with the Opentrons automation platform for full plasmid sequencing and cell line sequencing. This integration has enabled the lab to streamline library preparation and sample handling, making the workflow more reliable, significantly faster, and cost-effective.

By leveraging Opentrons automation, Pfizer BMD achieves consistent, high-throughput processing while maintaining flexibility, ultimately providing deeper insights into mixed populations and enabling rapid sequencing of full plasmids.