Benny and the jet(s)

Doing repairs to the beat of Elton John

When Benny Leriba joined the team in September last year he didn’t expect to do work other than molecular genetics. But, given COVID and the resulting flight restrictions it became necessary for us to “mechanic” our robotic instruments from LGC Biosearch Technologies – a UK based company – ourselves. These instruments are awfully expensive, highly advanced and have intricate electronics.

Recently, with online guidance from an experienced LGC engineer (also based in the UK), Benny had to put his engineering hat on to replace a broken water pump on our thermocycler. Although we have backup instruments that can do the same work, the Hydrocycler is designed for high-throughput and under our service contract with LGC all breakages get repaired. With printed manuals, WhatsApp video call and some nerves he was able to get it up and running, allowing us to keep on producing results in the shortest time possible. Thank you Benny for your willingness and courage to take this challenge on!

We look forward to travel bans being lifted to enable LGC engineers to perform our annual services in person again.