Takara Bio USA and Hamilton announced a partnership to develop and co-market automated NGS library prep workflows using Hamilton’s Microlab Star platform. The companies plan to automate Takara’s Smart-Seq library preparation kits, starting with the Smart-Seq mRNA LP kit for full-length mRNA sequencing library generation. They also plan automation for additional products including Smart-Seq Total RNA Library Prep with ZapR Depletion with UMIs. The workflow automation is intended to reduce hands-on time and error risk while increasing throughput and lowering labor costs for research labs and core facilities. The first verified automation scripts are expected to standardize execution of Takara’s kits on Hamilton’s liquid handling systems, reinforcing the push toward reproducible, high-throughput NGS services.