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Webinar

What it takes to automate high-content imaging at scale

25 March 2026

3:00pm

This webinar examines the design trade-offs and technical constraints involved in building a high-throughput robotic imaging pipeline for complex biological workflows.

As laboratories seek to automate increasingly complex cell-based workflows, high-content imaging often becomes a limiting step. While robotic platforms can scale liquid handling and incubation, integrating advanced imaging into automated systems introduces challenges around reliability, throughput, software compatibility and experimental flexibility. In many cases, these challenges create new bottlenecks rather than removing them.

In this webinar, Automation Scientist Dr Sant Kumar from ETH Zurich’s Lab Automation Facility (LAF) presents a detailed academic case study on the design and deployment of a modular robotic WorkCell. The session focuses on how imaging hardware, including the Yokogawa CellVoyager CQ3000, robotic sample handling and scheduling software were integrated into a single operational system capable of supporting complex biological workflows.

The webinar explores the practical realities of system integration, including:

  • Design trade-offs: balancing imaging performance with seamless automation integration
  • Integration challenges: validating software compatibility and practical usage limitations
  • Synergistic development: close collaboration between vendor and customer to resolve issues and drive further development.
  • Proven application: confocal imaging combined with automated target search for reliable, high-throughput screening of tumor cells in spheroids

This session is intended for researchers, automation scientists and facility managers who are evaluating or building imaging workflows within automated robotic workstations.

Key learning points: 

  • Identify the key factors to consider when selecting high-content imagers for automation integration.
  • Explore the practical constraints of integrating high-content imaging into automated robotic WorkCells.
  • Examine how system design choices influence reliability, throughput, and long-term scalability.
  • See how automated 3D tumour spheroid screening can be deployed at scale in 384-well plates.
  • Gain transferable insights for laboratories planning or evaluating automated imaging systems.

SPEAKERS

Dr Sant Kumar, Automation Scientist, Laboratory Automation Facility (LAF), Dept of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE), ETH Zürich

Dr. Sant Kumar is a specialist in laboratory automation, currently serving as an Automation Scientist in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (BSSE) at ETH Zurich in Basel. In this role, he manages the department’s Lab Automation Facility (LAF) and supports the development and operation of automated experimental workflows.

Dr. Kumar earned his PhD from ETH Zurich, where his research focused on the development of optogenetic stimulation platforms and feedback control systems for living cells. With a multidisciplinary background spanning electrical engineering, computer science, and robotics, his expertise lies in creating bespoke automation solutions that bridge the gap between complex robotic systems and innovative biological inquiry.

Dr Yvonne Dürnberger, Business Development Manager High-Content Imaging, Yokogawa Deutschland GmbH

Dr Yvonne Dürnberger is Business Development Manager at Yokogawa Life Science Europe, where she drives strategic partnerships, high-content imaging initiatives and market development across the region. With a strong academic background in biology and biomedicine, she gained extensive hands-on experience during her PhD at the DZNE in Bonn, where she worked with Yokogawa’s Cell Voyager systems and developed a deep expertise in high-content imaging technologies.

In her current role, she collaborates closely with distribution partners and supports application, marketing and promotional activities to advance Yokogawa’s mission of co innovation. Yvonne is particularly passionate about enabling researchers with cutting-edge imaging solutions such as the CellVoyager CQ3000, which she identifies as a game changing technology for making confocal imaging more accessible to scientists.

FAQs

Is the panel discussion free? 

Yes – there is no charge to watch the panel discussion, either live or on-demand. 

When will the panel discussion take place? 

The webinar will be taking place on 25 March 2026

Can I watch it later? 

The panel discussion will become available to watch on-demand shortly after the live webinar takes place. 

What are the benefits of attending live? 

You’ll be able to ask the speakers your questions, which will be answered live in the Q&A towards the end of the session. 

How long will the panel discussion be? 

This panel discussion will last up to an hour. 

What do I need to watch this panel discussion? 

All you need is a computer with an internet connection. We recommend using headphones if possible if you’re in an office environment.