QuantStudio qPCR

Revolution drives two QuantStudio instruments, and the integration depth is very different between them:

Device	Revolution control
QuantStudio 7 Pro	Full run lifecycle — queue, start, pause, resume, stop, retrieve results, drawer control, power state
QuantStudio 7	Tray in and out, and data file parsing

The specifications below are Thermo Fisher’s for the QuantStudio 6 and 7 Pro systems.

At a glance

Temperature range	4–99.9 °C
Temperature uniformity	0.4 °C
Maximum ramp rate	Up to 9.0 °C/sec (96-well 0.1 mL Fast block)
Block formats	96-well 0.2 mL, 96-well 0.1 mL (Fast), 384-well, TaqMan Array Cards
Dynamic range	10 orders of magnitude
Filter / colour combinations	21 on the QuantStudio 7 Pro (5 on the 6 Pro)
Run time	Less than 30 min

Specifications

Thermal

Temperature range, uniformity and run time are already given in the At a glance table above. Beyond that:

Heating and cooling	Peltier
VeriFlex blocks	3 or 6 independent temperature zones (96-well blocks)
Block size	22.5 × 22.5 × 7 cm

Maximum ramp rate, by block:

Block	Maximum	Average sample
96-well (0.2 mL)	6.5 °C/sec	3.66 °C/sec
96-well (0.1 mL)	9.0 °C/sec	4.81 °C/sec
384-well	6.0 °C/sec	2.92 °C/sec
TaqMan Array Cards	5.0 °C/sec	3.00 °C/sec

VeriFlex is worth knowing about: on 96-well blocks it divides the block into 3 or 6 independent temperature zones, so different cycling conditions can run in the same plate. That is an optimisation tool, and it means “the block temperature” may not be a single value.

Reaction volumes

Block	Volume
96-well 0.1 mL	10–30 µL
96-well 0.2 mL	10–100 µL
384-well	5–20 µL
TaqMan Array Cards	~1.5 µL

Blocks are interchangeable and tool-free to swap, guided by the onboard software — but Thermo Fisher notes the system ships with one block type and others are bought separately, and that blocks are released at intervals so some may not currently be available.

Optics and detection

Filter/colour combinations and dynamic range are already given in the At a glance table above.

Excitation	Bright white LED
Excitation / emission range	450–600 nm / 500–640 nm
Detection	CMOS
Data acquisition	Whole-plate imaging
Multiplexing	5 or 6 targets
Sensitivity	1.5-fold resolution; detect down to 1 copy

Dye compatibility as listed: FAM, SYBR Green I, VIC, JOE, HEX, TET, ABY, NED, TAMRA, Cy3, JUN, ROX, Texas Red, Mustang Purple, Cy5, LIZ and Cy5.5.

System

Dimensions (D × W × H)	52.5 × 33.8 × 54.7 cm
Weight	38 kg
Onboard memory	10 GB, approximately 450 run files
Touchscreen	12 inch capacitive, with real-time application viewing
Communication	Connect Platform, USB, LAN or Wi-Fi
External devices	2D barcode reader via USB
Configuration	Stand-alone, PC connected, or LAN / Wi-Fi to the Connect Platform
Electrical approvals	IEC, CE
Calibration	Engineer calibrated during installation
Data export	RDML, for MIQE compliance

Supported methods — QuantStudio 7 Pro

Running

• Start run / Stop run — begin and abandon a run
• Run template — run from a stored template
• Pause run — pause, holding at a given temperature
• Resume run — resume a paused run

Pause at a temperature is the operation that matters most here. A qPCR run interrupted without a hold temperature is a compromised run; pausing at a defined temperature is what makes an intervention mid-protocol survivable. Thermo Fisher lists programmable and manual pause among the system’s run-programming options.

Run queue

• Send to run queue — add a run to the queue
• List run queue — read what is queued
• Remove from run queue — take a run off the queue

The queue is what lets a schedule stage work without waiting for the block. Runs are under 30 minutes each, so a cell that loads plates faster than the cycler processes them needs somewhere to put them.

Results

• List completed runs — enumerate what is on the instrument
• Download completed run — retrieve a run
• Export results — export result data
• Delete completed run — remove a run by name

With 10 GB of onboard memory holding roughly 450 run files, retrieval and deletion are the pair that keeps an unattended instrument from filling up.

Instrument state

• Open drawer / Close drawer — present the drawer for a robot
• Get plate and block state — read whether a plate is present and which block is fitted
• Power up / Stand by — bring the instrument up, or put it into standby

Get plate and block state is the check to make before committing a transfer: it answers both “is the drawer empty” and “is the right block in there”, and the block determines the reaction volume the plate must match.

Supported methods — QuantStudio 7

• Extend tray / Retract tray — present and withdraw the tray for a robot
• Parse data file — parse a results data file

This is a plate-access and data-parsing integration rather than run control. Runs are started on the instrument.

Integration

The 7 Pro is reached over the network — IP address and port, or a URL — authenticated with an access key, with working and results folders on the host. The older QuantStudio 7 is addressed by instrument name.

Prerequisites

• The instrument must be reachable, and the access key valid, before the device is initialised.
• Working folder and results folder must exist and be writable.
• The block fitted must match the plate the method presents — check with get plate and block state rather than assuming.
• Protocol templates must already exist on the instrument or in Thermo Fisher’s software.

Device configuration

Property	Purpose
IP Address / Instrument Port	Address of the 7 Pro
URL	Service endpoint
Access Key	Credential for the instrument API
Working Folder	Working directory used during a run
Results Folder	Where retrieved results are written
Instrument Name	Identifies the older QuantStudio 7

If you need more of this instrument driven from a schedule, get in touch — the driver is extended on demand.

Operations

These are available from a Run Device Operation step.

Close Drawer

Closes the instrument's plate drawer, under the same interlocks that apply to opening it and returning without acting if the drawer is already closed. Starting a run closes the drawer by itself, so this step is only needed where a schedule has to leave the drawer shut without starting one.

Delete Completed Run

Deletes a finished run from the instrument's run history, freeing the storage it was occupying. Only the instrument's copy goes, so results already downloaded are unaffected; this is the step that keeps free space above the 80MB below which a run is refused.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Run Name	string	—	Name of the finished run to delete from the instrument's own storage. As published by the operation that lists completed runs. Only the instrument's copy is removed; results already downloaded are unaffected.

Download Completed Run

Copies a finished run's results file off the instrument to the machine that connects to it, into the device's configured Results Folder unless another destination folder is named. The run itself stays on the instrument afterwards, so freeing up space on it is a separate step.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Run Name	string	—	Name of the finished run to download. As published by the operation that lists completed runs. It is the run's own name on the instrument rather than a file name.
Destination Folder	string	—	Folder to write the downloaded results file into, on the connecting machine. The device's configured Results Folder is used when no folder is given here, and the step fails when neither is set.

Export Results

Converts a downloaded results file into report files, written as CSV unless XLS, XLSX, TXT, ZIP or RDML is chosen instead, and either combined into one file or split into one file per result table. It works on a results file already on disk rather than on the instrument, so it needs no run in progress and no live instrument connection.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
EDS File Path	string	—	Full path to the downloaded results file to export, on the connecting machine. The file is read from disk, so the run it came from no longer has to be on the instrument.
Destination Folder	string	—	Folder to write the exported files into, on the connecting machine. The device's configured Results Folder is used when no folder is given here, and the step fails when neither is set.
File Name Prefix	string	—	Prefix for the exported file names. The results file's own name is used as the prefix when none is given here.
Format	string	—	Export file format: CSV, XLS, XLSX, TXT, ZIP or RDML, case-insensitive. CSV is used when no format is given, and a name that is not one of these is rejected rather than quietly treated as CSV.
As Single File	bool	—	Writes one combined file instead of a separate file per result table. It changes only how the exported data is divided between files, not which results are exported.

Get Instrument Info

Reports the instrument's identity, serial numbers, firmware and software versions, and the free storage space left on it. Free space is the figure with operational weight: a run is refused once it drops below 80MB, so it is worth checking before a batch rather than after a run fails to start.

Get Plate And Block State

Reports whether a sample block is fitted to the instrument and whether an RFID smart plate is present on the drawer. Both readings come from the instrument's own detection rather than from the schedule's record of what was placed there, and both are specific to the QuantStudio 6 and 7 Pro.

Get Run Progress

Reports the active run's name and how far it has reached through the protocol, as stage, step and cycle, together with the instrument's own estimate of the time left. The counts read zero and the remaining seconds read -1 when no run is in progress, and also while a run is under way but the instrument has not yet estimated a time.

Get Status

Reports what the instrument is doing now: its state, drawer position, whether a run is in progress, the last run event, the last error, and the heated cover and block temperatures. The values come from the instrument's own event stream, so the step also reports whether that feed is still live; when it is not, the readings are the last ones received rather than current ones.

List Completed Runs

Reports how many finished runs the instrument still holds in its run history, along with their names as a comma-separated list. These are the names the download and delete operations take, so this is the step that establishes what is available to retrieve or clear off the instrument.

List Run Queue

Reports how many templates are waiting in the instrument's run queue, along with their file names as a comma-separated list. This is the queue of uploaded templates that have not been started, not the history of runs that have already finished.

Open Drawer

Opens the instrument's plate drawer, so that a plate can be placed on or taken off the sample block. The instrument refuses the move while it is running a protocol or diagnostics, or while the drawer is already in motion, and the step returns without acting if the drawer is open already.

Pause Run

Pauses the run in progress, holding the sample block at the temperature supplied in degrees Celsius for as long as the pause lasts. The run is suspended rather than ended, so it can be continued from the same point instead of being started again.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Temperature Celsius	double	—	The temperature the sample block is held at while the run is paused. The block is driven to this temperature and stays there until the run is resumed.

Power Up

Brings the instrument out of standby and back to an idle, run-ready state. The lamp needs time to warm up afterwards, so a schedule that does this ahead of a batch keeps the warm-up off the critical path instead of paying for it at the start of the first run.

Raise Error

Makes this device report a failure on demand: the step fails with an error naming the device, and the operator is offered the usual error recovery choices. No command reaches the instrument and nothing moves, and the failure is raised in simulation as well as on a real system, so this is the step to use when rehearsing how a schedule handles a device failure.

Remove From Run Queue

Withdraws a waiting template from the instrument's run queue, identified by the template file name as it appears in the queue listing. It only affects a template that has not been started; a run already under way is untouched and has to be stopped instead.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Template File Name	string	—	Name of the queued template to withdraw. As it appears in the run queue listing: the file name the instrument holds in its queue, not a full path on disk.

Resume Run

Continues a run that was paused, taking the protocol up from the point where it stopped. It applies only to a paused run: one that was stopped has already ended, and processing that plate again means starting a new run.

Run Template

Starts a qPCR run from an EDT template file, waits for the instrument to finish it, and optionally downloads the results file once the instrument reports it ready for download. This is the operation a plate-processing schedule normally wants; the step fails if the run does not complete or outlasts its timeout, and the instrument is not stopped in either case, so the plate is still recoverable.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Template File Path	string	—	Full path to the EDT run template for this run, on the connecting machine. The template defines the protocol and the plate setup. The path is resolved on the machine that connects to the instrument, not on the machine running the schedule editor.
Run Name	string	—	Names this run on the instrument and the results file it produces. Give it a value that is unique per plate: reusing a name across plates is how one run's results overwrite another's.
Plate Barcode	string	—	Barcode recorded in the plate setup. When one is supplied the template is copied and the barcode written into the copy, leaving the original template untouched. The value is recorded as given and is never checked against the plate actually on the instrument.
Timeout Seconds	int	—	How long to wait for the whole run, in seconds, including lamp warm-up. A value of zero or less allows four hours. If the run outlasts the budget the step fails but the instrument is not stopped, so the plate is still recoverable.
Download Results	bool	—	Downloads the results file once the instrument reports the run finished. The download waits until the instrument reports the file ready, which is the point at which it is guaranteed to be complete, and the file lands in the device's configured Results Folder.

Send To Run Queue

Uploads an EDT template file to the instrument's own run queue without starting it, leaving it to be started later from the instrument's touch screen. Nothing runs as a result of this step and no plate need be on the device location, which is what separates it from the operations that start a run; the run queue is specific to the QuantStudio 6 and 7 Pro.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Template File Path	string	—	Full path to the EDT template to queue, on the connecting machine. The template is only queued: nothing starts running as a result.

Stand By

Puts the instrument into its low-power standby state, which turns the heated cover off and stops block and cover temperatures being reported. This is not a way to interrupt a run: it is refused outright while a protocol or diagnostics is in progress.

Start Run

Starts a qPCR run from an EDT template file and returns as soon as the instrument has accepted it, so the run carries on after this step finishes and its progress arrives through the status operations and the device log. A plate must be on the device location for the run to start, and the run name given here names the resulting data file, so reusing a name across plates is how one run's results overwrite another's.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Template File Path	string	—	Full path to the EDT run template for this run, on the connecting machine. The template defines the protocol and the plate setup. The path is resolved on the machine that connects to the instrument, not on the machine running the schedule editor.
Run Name	string	—	Names this run on the instrument and the results file it produces. Give it a value that is unique per plate: reusing a name across plates is how one run's results overwrite another's.
Plate Barcode	string	—	Barcode recorded in the plate setup. When one is supplied the template is copied and the barcode written into the copy, leaving the original template untouched. The value is recorded as given and is never checked against the plate actually on the instrument.

Stop Run

Aborts the run in progress. The run ends where it stands and cannot be picked up again, which is what separates this from pausing; a schedule waiting on that run sees it finish with an aborted outcome rather than a completed one.