In the life sciences industry — whether advancing a probe across a DNA well plate or counting cancer cells following a candidate drug exposure — motion control is prevalent. Sophisticated laboratory automation, diagnostic instruments, microscopy, cytometry, and sample-handling systems all rely heavily on smooth, precise, repeatable motion. Yet life sciences devices must meet demanding requirements: tight tolerances, small footprints, high throughput, frequent cycles, and — crucially — cost efficiency.

Novanta Precision Medicine brings decades of experience, deep domain expertise, and a full suite of custom motion-control services to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) launch better instruments, faster, and at lower cost.

The Challenge: Why Life-Science Applications Are Hard

Laboratory and diagnostic instrumentation pose unique, often conflicting constraints:

• High precision and repeatability – Small sample volumes, microscale positioning, optical alignment, or reagent dispensing demand micron-level (or better) accuracy and consistency.
• Compact, tabletop footprint – Many instruments must fit on a benchtop, with extremely limited internal space — leaving even less margin for bulky motion assemblies.
• High duty cycles / heavy use – In commercial labs or diagnostic centers, instruments often run thousands to millions of cycles — e.g., repeated sample handling, pipetting, DNA analysis, or cell counting — which can quickly wear down standard components.
• Cost pressure – Unlike highly differentiated luxury devices, many life-science instruments compete largely on incremental improvements at tight price points. Over-engineering leads to unnecessary cost; under-engineering leads to premature failure or poor performance.
• Need for customization – Off-the-shelf motion components seldom meet the exact mix of compactness, precision, longevity, throughput, and cost required. As a result, many projects must begin from scratch or heavily adapt existing parts to succeed.

How Novanta Precision Medicine Tackles These Challenges

Novanta Precision Medicine doesn’t just supply components — we act as an extension of your engineering team. With 20+ degreed engineers and experienced staff across design, prototyping, and volume manufacturing, we support you from concept through production.

Because of long-standing relationships with suppliers and deep familiarity with industry-standard motion-control hardware, we can source components more cost-effectively than a typical OEM, and pass savings along.

We also build in custom features as needed — from cable mounts and covers to special tolerances or space-optimized layouts — providing a full, production-ready solution rather than a bare “drive + rail” kit.

Custom, Application-Specific Motion Systems

Rather than forcing a pre-built module into a life-science instrument, Novanta Precision Medicine custom-engineers the motion subsystem to the application — matching requirements for accuracy, travel, speed, form factor, load, and duty cycle.

For example:

• An XYZ stage for sample positioning used in flow cytometry — right-sized (i.e., not over-specified), achieving precise sample handling while minimizing cost and complexity.
• Highly compact piezo-based flexure stages for nanopositioning, with extremely fast settle times (millisecond-level) and longevity even under high-duty-cycle use.

Because we control both design and assembly, we can optimize for performance and manufacturability — reducing overall system cost while preserving or improving functionality.

Cost-Down Engineering without Compromise

Especially in applications like blood analyzers, cost is a perennial concern. Novanta Precision Medicine’s “cost-down engineering” includes revisiting tolerances, redesigning components to be easier (and cheaper) to manufacture, simplifying alignment and testing procedures, and choosing among its broad component portfolio to pick the most cost-efficient parts that still meet performance requirements.

In some cases, rather than tweaking existing designs, the most effective path is a clean-sheet design that delivers the same performance at lower cost and improved manufacturability.

Further — for high-cycle applications such as DNA analysis (which requires rapid, frequent position changes) — Novanta Precision Medicine uses durable design choices: e.g., Teflon-coated lead screws with self-lubricating nuts. In testing, such assemblies have run successfully for millions of cycles — greatly reducing risk of early failure and unscheduled downtime.

Example Use Cases: From Diagnostics to Microscopy

Across its portfolio, Novanta Precision Medicine has delivered motion-control systems for a wide range of life-science equipment:

• Flow cytometers & sample analyzers — custom XYZ gantries that move samples or reagents precisely and repeatedly under the constraints of compact form factors.
• Microscopy & imaging instruments — high-precision XYZ or Z-focus stages, including nanopositioning / piezo flexure designs for sub-micron accuracy and rapid settle times.
• Pathology / tissue-sectioning machines — motion assemblies carefully designed to balance speed, accuracy, and low cost for high-volume lab use.
• Diagnostic instruments (e.g., blood analyzers, DNA analyzers) — where frequent, rapid motions under high duty cycles require durable, reliable assemblies that won’t fail mid-run.

In each case, the motion subsystem is tailored to the instrument’s needs — enabling the OEM to deliver reliable, efficient, cost-competitive products.

Why Novanta Precision Medicine Is the Right Partner

Full-service design & manufacturing: From mechanical design to prototyping to volume manufacturing, Novanta Precision Medicine handles the whole lifecycle.

Broad portfolio + vendor relationships: Their history as a distributor gives access to a wide array of linear and motion-control components at cost-effective prices.

Engineering mindset oriented toward life sciences: Rather than generic industrial automation, Novanta Precision Medicine understands the unique constraints — compact footprints, frequent cycles, strict tolerances, and cost sensitivity — inherent in lab and diagnostic devices.

Proven track record: Thousands of custom subsystems built annually; numerous examples across flow cytometry, microscopy, pathology, diagnostic instrumentation, and more.

Conclusion: Unlocking Better Life-Science Instruments with Custom Motion Solutions

Life-science instruments demand a rare balance of precision, reliability, compactness, throughput — all at a price point that still makes sense. Off-the-shelf motion components rarely meet all those constraints simultaneously.

By partnering with Novanta Precision Medicine, OEMs gain access to an engineering-driven, cost-sensitive, full-service motion-control provider — one capable of tailoring custom, long-lasting, high-performance motion subsystems, and helping bring better laboratory instruments to market faster and more affordably.

In doing so, Novanta Precision Medicine helps drive advances in diagnostics, microscopy, genomics — and ultimately, better patient outcomes and more efficient research.