Richard Ellson, Chief Technical Officer, Labcyte Inc.

The Society for Biomolecular Sciences awarded Richard Ellson the 2006 SBS PolyPops Foundation Award for his work developing acoustic dispensing technology.

Mr. Ellson, Chief Technical Officer for Labcyte Inc., Sunnyvale, California, used this technology in the Echo 550 and Echo 555 liquid handlers, which enables users to move liquids with sound. In these systems, acoustic energy is focused through the bottom of a microplate well to eject a droplet of fluid and transfer it directly to a well in another microplate. This completely eliminates any physical contact with the material being moved leading to improved precision and accuracy, reduced costs and waste, and better qualitative results. The Society will present Mr. Ellson with the award at its 12th Annual SBS Conference & Exhibition in Seattle, Washington, on September 21st. The award includes recognition in The Journal of Biomolecular Screening as well as a $2,500 honorarium.

The Society for Biomolecular Sciences presents the PolyPops Foundation Award annually to members of the scientific community who have shown innovation in the design and application of plastics and polymers in microplate development and design.

The SBS Awards Committee noted that Mr. Ellson’s technology “enhances the capability of transforming compound handling and high throughput screening into several drug discovery applications, and [that it] is rapidly being adopted into production systems throughout the drug discovery industry.”

The acoustic dispensing technology for which the award was given transfers compounds directly to assay plates eliminating intermediate dilutions and the concomitant loss of compounds by adsorption to tips and well surfaces. Pharmaceutical researchers have proved that these losses can lead to failure to identify potential drugs. Elimination of the consumables associated with intermediate dilutions also results in savings that approximate the cost of the instrument in one year.

A founder of Labcyte Inc., Mr. Ellson previously held positions at Xerox PARC and Kodak where he worked in liquid handling, imaging and plastics manufacturing. Mr. Ellson holds a B.S. in Fluid and Thermal Science from Case Western Reserve University with a minor in life sciences, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. His contributions were acknowledged by a Kodak Doctoral Award, which enabled him to take a two-year paid leave to study mathematics at the University of Illinois. He holds over 50 U.S. patents and has published numerous articles. Mr. Ellson is an active member of the screening community as a frequent conference speaker, a member of the Society for Biomolecular Sciences, reviewer for The Journal of Biomolecular Screening and editor for The Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation.

Past PolyPops Foundation Award recipients include: Dr. Pauline Gee, CeMines, Inc. (2005), Dr. David J. Burns and Dr. Jim Kofron, Abbott Laboratories (2004), Jeffrey Karg (2003), Dr. Christof Fattinger and Hansjörg Tschirky, Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. (2002).