Week 2 HW: Lab Automation

Opentrons Artwork

opentrons-art.rcdonovan.com/?id=oevp91e27i3m061

Post-Lab Questions

Find and describe a published paper that utilizes the Opentrons

This article combines an open‑source liquid‑handling robot (Opentrons OT‑One‑S Hood) with four interchangeable modules that perform magnetic‑bead DNA isolation, isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) of the ctrA gene, exonuclease digestion to generate single‑stranded DNA, and detection on a paper‑based vertical‑flow microarray (VFM) using anti‑biotin gold nanoparticles for colorimetric read‑out.

Magnetic Dynabeads capture pathogen DNA from cerebrospinal fluid or water samples, after which the beads are washed and the DNA is released into the amplification mix  3. The RPA reaction runs at 37 °C, using a biotin‑labelled forward primer and a 5′‑phosphate reverse primer; the resulting double‑stranded amplicons are digested by Lambda exonuclease, which removes the phosphorylated strand and leaves a biotin‑tagged single strand for hybridisation. The single‑stranded amplicons are applied to nitrocellulose VFM spots that contain capture probes for ctrA; anti‑biotin gold nanoparticles bind the biotin tag, and a signal‑enhancement solution produces a visible colour change at positive spots.

ecause all steps are scripted on the Opentrons platform, the robot performs liquid handling automatically, reducing hands‑on time to 110 min for eight samples—about 18 % faster than manual processing—and lowering consumable cost to roughly USD 16 per sample. The open‑source hardware and standard lab consumables make the system adaptable to other pathogens and suitable for deployment in low‑resource settings.

Write a description about what you intend to do with automation tools for your final project

For my final project, I intend to develop a low-cost diagnostic test for the detection of Dengue virus (DENV), optimized for use in low-resource settings. The system would integrate:

A lateral-flow or paper-based detection platform

Automation in the creation and production of the test

The goal is to reduce human error, increase reproducibility, and lower production costs while maintaining diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.

Final Project Ideas