As molecular testing volumes continue to surge across oncology, infectious disease, and reproductive health, automation is no longer a “nice-to-have.” It’s the backbone of speed, accuracy, and scale. Labs around the world are facing a common reality: manual workflows just can’t keep up with today’s demands.

So what’s really driving the shift? And why is now the tipping point?

Let’s break it down.

1. Testing volumes are increasing faster than capacity

Diagnostics labs worldwide are dealing with surging demand. In the U.S., over 14 billion lab tests are performed annually. In India, diagnostic test volumes are rising 15–20% year-on-year, according to IBEF. Post-COVID, public and private labs have significantly scaled up infrastructure, but not necessarily staff.

Manual workflows simply don’t scale. Automation allows labs to handle higher sample throughput while maintaining quality and consistency.

2. Turnaround time (TAT) is a clinical priority

In high-stakes areas like Oncology (e.g., detecting BRCA mutations or EGFR status), Infectious disease (e.g., TB, viral loads, AMR panels), and Prenatal screening (e.g., NIPT, aneuploidy tests), the time-to-result directly influences treatment decisions. Automation enables more predictable batch times, reduced hands-on time, fewer errors that cause delays or reruns

With pressure mounting to deliver same-day or next-day results, labs that automate their extraction and prep workflows will stay competitive.

3. Variable sample quality demands reliable automation

In molecular diagnostics, you're often working with degraded DNA/RNA from FFPE blocks or low-volume or hard-to-process swabs and tissues. Manual extraction under these conditions is error-prone. And QC failures are expensive. Each failed extraction costs more than the reagents. It levies technicians’ time, reruns of expensive PCR/NGS downstream tests, and even reporting delays or diagnostic uncertainty.

Automation systems are built to standardize complex protocols and minimize touchpoints, improving reproducibility across a wide range of sample types

4. Cost pressures are mounting, but efficiency offsets them

While automation systems have upfront costs, they often pay off quickly by reducing sample re-runs and QC failures, lowering reagent wastage, and freeing up technician time for higher-value tasks (like analysis and reporting). 

The WHO reports that every $1 spent on diagnostics can save $10 in downstream healthcare costs.

Automation enables more efficient testing, which in turn enables earlier interventions and better patient outcomes, all while helping labs operate more sustainably.

5. Accreditation standards are rising, and automation helps you meet them

With NABL, CAP, and ICMR emphasizing on reproducibility, QC traceability, and contamination control, labs are expected to standardize workflows, maintain batch logs, and deliver consistent yield and purity.

Automation extraction systems like Manta log run details, eliminate operator variation, and reduce cross-contamination risk with closed protocols.

Manual extraction is the bottleneck. Automation is the unlock.

If your lab’s 2025 goals include:

• Faster diagnostics for better outcomes

• Scaling up without adding headcount

• Reducing public health costs and delays

Then automation isn’t optional. It’s urgent.

And with Cambrian, you get:

• A system compatible with a wide range of diagnostic samples, from blood to swabs to FFPE

• No need to batch samples, run what you have without wasting plastics or reagents

• Effortless scalability, automate more without overhauling your workflow

Get more details on Manta here.