Summary
Thermo Fisher Scientific’s SwiftArrayStudio microarray analyzer was developed in response to customer needs for simpler workflows, more consistent turnaround times, and lower operational burden in genomics labs. By integrating key steps (hybridization through scanning) into a fully automated, low-touch platform, it can deliver results as quickly as ~30 hours and scale from small runs to high-throughput use cases. The speakers also emphasized flexibility across array content and formats, support for pharmacogenomics and emerging multiomics applications, and design choices that reduce manual error, staffing strain, plastics, and chemical use.
Commercial roundtable
April 2026—This conversation is part of a series of one-on-one virtual roundtables in which CAP TODAY publisher Bob McGonnagle speaks with representatives of a company to spotlight its laboratory solutions. He spoke on Feb. 19 with Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Ravi Gupta, MBA, VP and general manager; Robert Balog, PhD, MBA, senior director, research and development; and Poulomi Acharya, PhD, senior director, global product management and market development, genetic sciences.
Thermo Fisher launched last fall the SwiftArrayStudio, a next-generation microarray analyzer that will support genomics research and clinical applications through the use of laboratory-validated and -developed tests. Ravi Gupta, what motivated the development of this analyzer?
Ravi Gupta: The SwiftArrayStudio resulted from listening to customers. It addresses the scientific and operational pressures observed in modern genomics. I call them the real-world needs. For decades, labs across human predictive genomics and agrigenomics have dealt with persistent challenges in workflow complexity, inconsistent turnaround times, and escalating costs. SwiftArrayStudio was designed to address these gaps by delivering scalable throughput and faster turnaround on a single, fully automated platform.
We integrated multiple steps—hybridization, staining, washing, and scanning—in one instrument with minimal touchpoints, which allows labs to receive data the next day, accelerating genetic analysis. Customers can get results in as few as 30 hours while flexing with the demand. Before this platform was launched, results could take up to five days. That acceleration not only improves the operational efficiency but also enables faster decision-making.
Robert Balog, can you tell us more about the instrument workflow?
Dr. Balog: In addition to building a new instrument, we built out the future workflow and improved the content on the arrays. Equally critical, we took an eye toward how the customer operates in the lab. For instance, we looked at the upfront work. The customer can do all the upfront work in about five and a half hours, which includes thawing the reagents. The enzymes are room-temperature stable so you can load and go. Because the instrument is running at night, we focused on ensuring one or two operators can complete preparation in a single shift, depending on the scale.
One of the beauties of this instrument is it has the flexibility to scale with the customer. None of these customers start out running thousands of samples a week or year. We focused on helping customers who are running a few samples and take them through as they scale samples.
I can imagine certain customer locations have multiple instruments; some people build very high volumes.
Dr. Balog: Absolutely. They can implement multiple instruments, but if they’re running only 24 to 96 samples a day, the same instrument can scale itself to run close to 800 samples per day on a single platform. One challenge was to build for a lower throughput in this higher-throughput case, and our software and wet lab teams came up with elegant solutions for both use cases on the same instrument.