Biopharma quality control demands methods that are reproducible, efficient, and compliant. These pressures are amplified by high-throughput testing needs and aggressive time-to-result targets. UV/Vis is a staple assay: simple but essential for protein/nucleic-acid impurity checks, excipient quality control, concentration verification, and line-clearance. Automating the process standardizes every run, freeing scientists for higher-value work.
Figure 1. A UV7 spectrophotometer integrated into a Cobot-based automation cell from ABB.
Biologics are complex, sensitive to handling, and costly to manufacture. Quality control (QC) methods must be highly reproducible, and while small molecule medicines may require 40-50 critical tests, a biological product can require over 250 [1]. Furthermore, it is often impossible to confirm full molecular identity or homogeneity of biologics [2], and subtle changes in process can affect critical quality attributes. Manual steps are inefficient and introduce variation at every turn: pipetting technique, blanking timing, cuvette handling, and even spreadsheet templates. This can create bottlenecks, increase time-to-result, and take up valuable time.
QC steps in biopharma R&D and production often rely on UV/Vis to assess contamination of protein products with nucleic acids [3-4]. For reagents and excipients used in biologics, even small drifts in the purity or concentration of products can trigger aggregation, color changes, or shelf-life risk [5-6]. Rapid, reliable UV/Vis checks on incoming excipients and in-process dilutions can help teams shorten lot disposition, avoid inventory pile-ups, and catch issues upstream before they spread.
Because UV/Vis impurity monitoring methods are well-defined and standardized, they are ideal for automation, especially when labs must test many lots or perform frequent line-clearance checks.
Figure 2. A representative deployment connects a UV7 Excellence spectrophotometer to an InMotion autosampler with tubing to a flow cell. The autosampler aspirates from labeled beakers on its rack, passes the liquid through the UV/Vis flow cell, and sends it to waste. LabX software orchestrates the entire sequence.
Automation of UV/Vis impurity monitoring using ABB collaborative robots (Cobots) and METTLER TOLEDO InMotion autosamplers streamlines the process into fast and reliable workflows.
Figure 3. Cuvette changers are low-throughput but have low time-to-results and use less sample. Flow cells are high-throughput and have very low operation requirements for the user, but can take longer per sample, while also using more sample.
For lower-throughput needs or constrained samples, cuvette changers offer an efficient alternative to flow-cell autosamplers. METTLER TOLEDO’s CuvetteChanger automates up to eight cuvettes per run, so blanks, calibration standards, and samples can be loaded together and measured in a single sequence. Autosampler/flow-cell setups typically consume more material, so when available volume is limited (e.g., <8–10 mL), a CuvetteChanger can be the better fit. Flow setups can also struggle to transfer more viscous samples effectively.
Increased time required for cleaning and rinsing a flow cell can also increase time-to-results, especially with high protein concentration samples. Cuvette changers decrease time-to-reults, but require increased operator time compared to an autosampler (see Figure 2).
Finally, consider concentration and optical path length: InMotion autosamplers support 1–50 mm path lengths for very dilute samples, whereas the CuvetteChanger accommodates 10 mm or shorter cuvettes, aligning well with typical QC concentrations while keeping operation simple and sample usage low.
Automation in biopharma QC delivers clear, practical gains: it drives time and resource efficiency by enabling unattended instrument runs so skilled staff can focus on higher-value work; accelerates time-to-result by running multiple samples in parallel and eliminating bottlenecks; reduces errors by standardizing calibration, blanking, and sample loading; and strengthens consistency and compliance by enforcing SOPs so every sample follows the same validated procedure. While often associated with large-scale manufacturing, automating small, repetitive tasks such as UV/Vis impurity testing delivers comparable benefits without major infrastructure changes. In practice, ABB Cobot–assisted pipetting prepares and barcodes samples consistently, while autosamplers and cuvette changers significantly reduce time-to-results and operator time. As such, automation can turn a frequent bottleneck into a dependable background process that accelerates lot release while strengthening data integrity and compliance.
Dr. Hans-Joachim Muhr is Head of Business and Segment Development for BioTech and BioPharma at METTLER TOLEDO, Analytical.
He brings over 20 years of experience in analytical instruments, spanning product and project innovation management, global sales support, and marketing to advance METTLER TOLEDO's analytical solutions worldwide.
Automation is not one-size-fits-all. The right approach depends on your throughput needs, sample volumes, and sample properties. In this short video, METTLER TOLEDO’s application expert walks through practical automation options, from peristaltic pumps for single samples to cuvette changers for smaller series, and up to InMotion autosamplers for high-throughput workflows. You’ll also see how LabX software orchestrates the entire process, from data capture to secure documentation.
