Week 3 HW: Lab Automation

  1. Find and describe a published paper that utilizes the Opentrons or an automation tool to achieve novel biological applications.

DeRoo, J.B., Jones, A.A., Slaughter, C.K., Ahr, T.W., Stroup, S.M., Thompson, G.B. and Snow, C.D., 2025. Automation of protein crystallization scaleup via Opentrons-2 liquid handling. SLAS technology, 32, p.100268.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.slast.2025.100268

This work describes an approach by which an Opentrons-2 liquid handling robot was used for automating sitting drop protein crystallization trials. This ability also improve comparability of products produced, improving studies that depend on their proper manufacture. An important detail is how the Opentrons-2 can prove a cost-effective option for laboratory operations. For example, at the time of writing, the Opentrons-2 can be purchased for around 13.5K USD vs that of a Gryphon machine at around 65K USD.

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

I’m still forming my thoughts about how I want to effectively use automation tools for my final project.

So far, I am interested in branching off from example #2 given in the Homework and the above example, regarding screening an array of designed biosensor constructs.

One idea had in mind was towards a digital tracing project that revolves around said constructs used to track known entities.

Simply, products are given a unique ID with stored parameters. These are linked within a automation run so that each product is trackable as they are processed. One application that is probably already in use but would be fun to adapt towards something not already applied would be swappable combined wearable crystallized biosensors that are traded in daily for workers that are liable to be exposed to a particular organism and pollutant pairs.

I could use an Echo for transfer of nano-scale components. The Bravo or Opentrons-2 could be used for precise, automated pipetting ,especially of the crystals. The multiflow would be used to dispense the larger scale volume components. The PlateLoc would be helful for sealing the plates. The inheco could be used for controlled incubation. The Xpeel would be used for careful desealing of the plates. Finally, the PHERAstar could be used for reading fluorescence outputs.

Still developing this out from this branch.