BD and Opentrons Labs Join Forces to Accelerate Disease Research and Drug Development

Collaboration Merges Cell Analysis and Automation Technologies

BD, a leading medtech company, and Opentrons Labworks, a specialist in lab automation, have announced a multi-year collaboration aimed at revolutionizing disease research and drug development processes. The partnership, revealed on October 8, 2025, will combine BD's advanced cell analysis capabilities with Opentrons' automation expertise to enhance single-cell multiomics experiments.

The centerpiece of this collaboration is the integration of BD's Rhapsody system for cell analysis with Opentrons' Flex platform. This merger of technologies is expected to enable scientists to perform hands-free workflows in single-cell multiomics experiments, potentially accelerating research timelines and improving efficiency in laboratories worldwide.

Streamlining Single-Cell Sequencing at Scale

A key objective of the BD-Opentrons partnership is to make single-cell sequencing more accessible and cost-effective for laboratories globally. The collaboration will focus on developing an "automation-compatible module" for BD's Rhapsody systems, allowing for the automation of specific R&D procedures.

Ranga Partha, a vice president at BD, emphasized the transformative potential of this partnership: "By revealing the multiple layers of biological information within cells, the field of single-cell multiomics is quickly transforming research in oncology, immunology and beyond—and automation can further accelerate adoption, especially in translational and biopharma settings."

Partha further highlighted the benefits of integrating robotics with BD's instruments, including the BD Rhapsody HT Xpress system, which enables million-cell studies. This integration is expected to help scientists access potentially life-changing insights with greater speed, scale, and reproducibility.

Industry Trend Towards Automated Lab Solutions

This collaboration reflects a growing trend in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries towards automated lab solutions. For Opentrons, this deal follows a similar agreement made in early 2025 with MilliporeSigma, a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, to automate assay kits using the Flex platform.

While financial details and the exact duration of the BD-Opentrons contract remain undisclosed, the partnership signifies a significant step forward in the application of automation to complex biological research. As the field of single-cell multiomics continues to evolve, collaborations like this are likely to play a crucial role in advancing our understanding of diseases and accelerating the drug development process.