Transfer Carriage QIAplate, QXT

Mechanical platform component engineered by QIAGEN to shuttle filter plates between worktable positions during automated nucleic acid purification on the QIAcube HT instrument, and as the drop-in replacement when older QIAxtractor instruments are upgraded for QIAcube HT kit compatibility. This QXT variant is finished in signature black hardware to distinguish it from the standard (non-QXT) carriage used in factory-shipped QIAcube HT systems.

The carriage docks on the left-hand waste chamber of the vacuum manifold and aligns a filter plate against the silicone gasket, allowing the vacuum to pull lysate through the membrane into the waste side while elution occurs on the right-hand side. It is part of the three-piece QXT Accessories Pack (QIAGEN catalogue 9022649), which also includes the Riser Block EMTR (9022655) and Channeling Adapter (9022656); together these black components adapt a QIAxtractor deck into a fully QIAcube HT-compatible processing station.

Practical details for laboratory use:

• Solvent-resistant polymer construction withstands repeated exposure to guanidine-containing lysis buffers and ethanol wash steps
• Drop-in installation onto the manufacturer guide rails; the instrument firmware auto-recognizes plate type, no special tools required
• Wipe down with 70% ethanol between runs to prevent cross-run carryover contamination
• Store at room temperature in a dry environment, away from direct sunlight
• Compatible QIAamp-style filter plates may be reused up to three times when processing fewer than 96 samples per run

Typical downstream applications include genomic DNA extraction from whole blood and tissue, total RNA purification (including viral RNA), pathogen detection sample prep, and biobanking workflows. As a direct replacement part, the carriage restores rated throughput when the original unit shows wear, or scales capacity when a second QIAcube HT instrument is added to the laboratory.