5 Facts About Your Microbial Colony Picker
What is a microbial colony picker used for? This machine is used in the culturing of microbial samples in instances where researchers wish to select a certain colony and then duplicate it. There are many applications in which colony picking is used, including DNA sequencing, synthetic biology (syn-bio), anaerobic species [...]
What Bacterial Colonies Can Tell Us
When bacteria are cultured on solid media, it grows in formations called colonies. A bacterial colony is a cluster of cells derived from the same mother cell. They are fascinating microcosms that can reveal a wealth of information about the microorganisms that inhabit them. Microbiologists often use bacterial colonies to [...]
What to Look for in a Colony Picking Robot
Colony picking refers to the selecting and inoculating of a single bacterial colony from a cultured sample on a plate. Colony picking is a pre-processing step in many lab procedures, from DNA extraction to next gen sequencing. Colony picking robots are machines that first use image processing to select a [...]
Automating PCR Prep in Your Laboratory
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique used to amplify a specific DNA fragment, often starting with a small amount of template DNA, such as a single bacterial colony. PCR is a time-consuming process, especially when done manually. Automating PCR prep can significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of laboratory [...]
Principles of Plasmid Isolation
Plasmids are circular DNA molecules found in bacteria. Plasmids are self-replicating, and they are separate from the chromosomal DNA of their host organisms. Bacteria use plasmids while responding to stress to activate certain non-essential functions, like antibiotic resistance. In addition, plasmids help bacteria adapt as their environments change. In genetic [...]
Plasmid Isolation from DNA: Process & Challenges
DNA plasmid isolation is integral to biology as it’s used in many functions. This includes DNA sequencing, cloning, in vitro translation, gene therapy, blotting, and more. However, while the process of DNA plasmid isolation is a crucial aspect of biology, it also comes with its challenges. In plasmid isolation, it [...]
The Benefits of an Automated Colony Counter
Colony counting determines how many microbial colonies are growing on cell culture media, such as agar plates. Automated colony counters are a newer technology that uses digital images and machine learning algorithms to provide a high-throughput alternative to manual colony counting. Since colony counting has applications ranging from product testing [...]
Single Cell Colony Picking: Tools & Challenges
Colony picking involves removing a sample from a healthy microbe colony after culturing a microbe sample on a plate. Single-cell colony picking means isolating a single microbe cell from a cultured colony. The growing fields of genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics rely on isolating and studying single cells. Learn more about [...]
Picking Colonies After Transformation: A Concise Guide
Bacterial transformation can also be performed using electroporation, but this method is less common. It runs on the same principle as heat shock protocol, but electricity is used instead of heating the bacteria. Electroporation sometimes results in more transformed colonies, but not always.Once transformation has occurred, it’s time to pick [...]
Colony Picking As Part Of Cell Culture
Industrial Synthetic Biology: Synthetic Biology and Industrial Biotechnology Have you ever wondered how epidemiologists identify which bacteria are causing the latest food poisoning outbreak? When biologists need to identify or research a specific cellular organism, they grow that organism in the lab. Cell culturing is a technique for growing cells [...]