AL a Greater throughput is particularly relevant because it
offers the ability to carry out the same process numerous times.
b
In the DNA/RNA/protein isolation procedure, shown in Table 1, pure DNA is isolated from the cell. A variety of protocols are available to do this, but each involves the same four basic steps: lysis, adsorption, washing and elution. The details vary, depending on the source material and the expected concentration of DNA.
Going beyond the basic workflow This article covers the most basic procedures commonly encountered
in the molecular biology laboratory. Each procedure has a common se- quence of steps and is therefore amenable to this type of general analysis. A number of other procedures that are not mentioned can be carried out on the same basic set of equipment, that is, automated pipettor, liquid dispenser, plate washer, shaking nest and heating/cooling nest. The in- struments referenced in this article are listed in Table 6.
Key to true flexibility is the software. Laboratory automation software should provide:
• A simple user interface that allows mapping of the desired protocol
• The ability to manipulate user-defined variables to support protocol optimization and complex experiments conducted in order to understand the effect of small changes in a gene’s sequence, or the concentration of a component
Table 6 – Instruments referenced* Instrument
Automated pipettor Liquid dispenser Plate washer Colony picker
Pressure-based nest Vacuum-based nest
Lab automation software
Figure 3 – a) Simple workcell for carrying out DNA isolation. The addition of the robotic arm (b) makes it possible to include a UV reader and a ther- mocycler in the same protocol.
• Error checking and the ability to communicate problems to the user
• The ability to talk to, configure and run a wide variety of equipment (plug-ins)
• The ability for users to create custom plug-ins for their own instruments.
Name SOLO
Micro10x
RapidWash RapidPick FilterPress VaryVac SoftLinx
*All from Hudson Robotics (Springfield Township, N.J.). AMERICAN LABORATORY 43
Another important element required for greater throughput is a robotic arm, which permits a wider range of instruments to be used in the same protocol and enables the user to replenish sample plates, pipet tips, filter plates, etc. A simple workcell for carrying out DNA isolation at low throughput and at higher throughput with the addition of a robotic arm is shown in Figure 3.
This article is far from a comprehensive review of automated molecular biology, and each topic could be the subject of a detailed review. Hopefully this overview will inspire researchers to automate their work.
Alan H. Katz, Ph.D., is CSO, Hudson Robotics, Inc., 10 Stern Ave., Springfield Township, N.J. 07081, U.S.A.; tel.: 973-376-7400; e-mail:
AKatz@hudsonrobotics.com;
www.hudsonrobotics.com
MAY 2016
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