Fig. 3.

Estimated time for sample processing using two different methods for isolation of total nucleic acids: automated magnetic bead-based kit (red line) and manual silica column-based kit (blue line). The maximum number of samples that can be processed using a multichannel pipette for plate preparation is 8, therefore every 8 samples a step in the red line occurs representing the additional time needed. The automated method becomes more time-efficient than the manual method when at least 8 samples are processed at a time