scholarly journals EvoBot: An Open-Source, Modular, Liquid Handling Robot for Scientific Experiments

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Faiña ◽  
Brian Nejati ◽  
Kasper Stoy
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
Entire System ◽  
Liquid Handling ◽  
Scientific Experiments ◽  
Biochemical Research ◽  
Liquid Handling Robot

Commercial liquid handling robots are rarely appropriate when tasks change often, which is the case in the early stages of biochemical research. In order to address it, we have developed EvoBot, a liquid handling robot, which is open-source and employs a modular design. The combination of an open-source and a modular design is particularly powerful because functionality is divided into modules with simple, well-defined interfaces, hence customisation of modules is possible without detailed knowledge of the entire system. Furthermore, the modular design allows end-users to only produce and assemble the modules that are relevant for their specific application. Hence, time and money are not wasted on functionality that is not needed. Finally, modules can easily be reused. In this paper, we describe the EvoBot modular design and through scientific experiments such as basic liquid handling, nurturing of microbial fuel cells, and droplet chemotaxis experiments document how functionality is increased one module at a time with a significant amount of reuse. In addition to providing wet-labs with an extendible, open-source liquid handling robot, we also think that modularity is a key concept that is likely to be useful in other robots developed for scientific purposes.

scholarly journals EvoBot: An Open-Source, Modular Liquid Handling Robot for Nurturing Microbial Fuel Cells

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrs Faa ◽  
Farzad Nejatimoharrami ◽  
Kasper Stoy ◽  
Pavlina Theodosiou ◽  
Benjamin Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Liquid Handling ◽  
Liquid Handling Robot

scholarly journals PlasmoTron: an open-source platform for automated culture of malaria parasites

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Sanderson ◽  
Julian C. Rayner
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Genetic Modification ◽  
Malaria Parasite ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Malaria Parasites ◽  
Parasite Culture ◽  
Liquid Handling ◽  
Liquid Handling Robot

We have created a system which allows an inexpensive opensource liquid-handling robot to automate most aspects of bloodstage malaria parasite culture. Parasites are cultured in multiwell microplates, with their details recorded in a database. Information in the database is used to generate commands for the robot to feed, monitor and passage parasite cultures. We show that the system is capable of raising cultures after transfection and then maintaining them at desired parasitaemias, facilitiating significant scale up of both routine culture and experimental genetic modification. The PlasmoTron software is available at plasmotron.org.

scholarly journals Open-source personal pipetting robots with live-cell incubation and microscopy compatibility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Dettinger ◽  
Tobias Kull ◽  
Geethika Arekatla ◽  
Nouraiz Ahmed ◽  
Yang Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Liquid Handling ◽  
Academic Settings ◽  
Stem And Progenitor Cells ◽  
Cell Incubation ◽  
Self Production ◽  
Liquid Handling Robot ◽  
Laboratory Member

Liquid handling robots have the potential to automate many procedures in life sciences. However, they are not in widespread use in academic settings, where funding, space and maintenance specialists are usually limiting. In addition, current robots require lengthy programming by specialists and are incompatible with most academic laboratories with constantly changing small-scale projects. Here, we present the Pipetting Helper Imaging Lid (PHIL), an inexpensive, small, open-source personal liquid handling robot. It is designed for inexperienced users, with self-production from cheap commercial and 3D-printable components and custom control software. PHIL successfully automated pipetting for e.g. tissue immunostainings and stimulations of live stem and progenitor cells during time-lapse microscopy. PHIL is cheap enough for any laboratory member to have their own personal pipetting robot(s), and enables users without programming skills to easily automate a large range of experiments.

scholarly journals An open-source semi-automated robotics pipeline for embryo immunohistochemistry

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Fuqua ◽  
Jeff Jordan ◽  
Aliaksandr Halavatyi ◽  
Christian Tischer ◽  
Kerstin Richter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Developmental Systems ◽  
Liquid Handling ◽  
Antibody Staining ◽  
Automated Pipeline ◽  
Precise Expression ◽  
Liquid Handling Robot

AbstractA significant challenge for developmental systems biology is balancing throughput with controlled conditions that minimize experimental artifacts. Large-scale developmental screens such as unbiased mutagenesis surveys have been limited in their applicability to embryonic systems, as the technologies for quantifying precise expression patterns in whole animals has not kept pace with other sequencing-based technologies. Here, we outline an open-source semi-automated pipeline to chemically fixate, stain, and 3D-image Drosophila embryos. Central to this pipeline is a liquid handling robot, Flyspresso, which automates the steps of classical embryo fixation and staining. We provide the schematics and an overview of the technology for an engineer or someone equivalently trained to reproduce and further improve upon Flyspresso, and highlight the Drosophila embryo fixation and colorimetric or antibody staining protocols. Additionally, we provide a detailed overview and stepwise protocol for our adaptive-feedback pipeline for automated embryo imaging on confocal microscopes. We demonstrate the efficiency of this pipeline compared to classical techniques, and how it can be repurposed or scaled to other protocols and biological systems. We hope our pipeline will serve as a platform for future research, allowing a broader community of users to build, execute, and share similar experiments.

scholarly journals An open-source automated PEG precipitation assay to measure the relative solubility of proteins with low material requirement

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Oeller ◽  
Pietro Sormanni ◽  
Michele Vendruscolo
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
High Throughput Screening ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
High Solubility ◽  
Liquid Handling ◽  
Automated Method ◽  
Material Requirement ◽  
Relative Solubility ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Liquid Handling Robot

AbstractThe solubility of proteins correlates with a variety of their properties, including function, production yield, pharmacokinetics, and formulation at high concentrations. High solubility is therefore a key requirement for the development of protein-based reagents for applications in life sciences, biotechnology, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Accurate solubility measurements, however, remain challenging and resource intensive, which limits their throughput and hence their applicability at the early stages of development pipelines, when long-lists of candidates are typically available in minute amounts. Here, we present an automated method based on the titration of a crowding agent (polyethylene glycol, PEG) to quantitatively assess relative solubility of proteins using about 200 µg of purified material. Our results demonstrate that this method is accurate and economical in material requirement and costs of reagents, which makes it suitable for high-throughput screening. This approach is freely-shared and based on a low cost, open-source liquid-handling robot. We anticipate that this method will facilitate the assessment of the developability of proteins and make it substantially more accessible.

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