Synthetic biology is a field of bioengineering in which scientists design new biological parts and systems. Synthetic biology is made possible by advances in genetics and microbiology technology. Lab techniques like PCR and Crispr Cas9 drove early development. Automation technology is driving synthetic biology innovation as it makes high-throughput experiments possible.Learn about the key synthetic biology tools for a well-equipped ab.
Liquid Handler
A liquid handler, also called an automated or robotic pipettor, can safely and precisely transfer samples and typical lab reagents such as buffers and more. In synthetic biology, a liquid handler is useful from gene assembly to plasmid preparation.
Liquid handlers are one of the most popular synthetic biology tools because of their versatile nature and small bench footprint. In addition, high precision and accuracy in dispensing reagents leads to more consistent, repeatable results.
Liquid handlers come in tip-based and non-contact styles. Non-contact styles minimize cross-contamination, while tip-based styles handle viscous liquid dispensation best. Some liquid handlers are stand-alone instruments used for reagent dispensing, while others include connections to plate storage areas for incubating plates.
For synthetic biology, liquid handlers are used in gene assembly, plasmid prep, colony plating, and heat shock DNA transformation. A small and versatile liquid handler is the ideal first tool for synthetic biology automation.
Thermocycler
A thermocycler amplifies DNA through a series of temperature cycles and the PCR process. In addition to amplifying DNA to simply yield more material, thermocyclers and the PCR process are also used for measuring while amplifying in qPCR or rtPCR. PCR can create copies of desirable sequences from DNA that produce certain proteins.
As a synthetic biology tool, a thermocycler can be used during gene assembly to synthesize oligos into longer sequences and genes. Oligos are short DNA fragments that are built pair-by-pair by adding nucleic acids. A thermocycler can also replicate genomic DNA fragments selected from an existing organism.
In synthetic biology, a chassis cell is the building block which DNA fragments are added to, in order to create a new living system. If your chassis cell is a book and a DNA fragment is a page you want to add to the book, a thermocycler is the copy machine that copies enough pages for every book.
Automated Colony Picker
Once assembled genes have successfully been incorporated into chassis cells, the chassis cells are diluted and incubated to form unique colonies that start with one cell. Choosing healthy colonies to sample is crucial for synthetic biology experiment success.
In synthetic biology, large volumes of DNA are necessary for DNA analysis. The original colonies are often picked, re-arrayed, and grown again to have enough DNA to screen. Manual colony picking is a slow process that limits lab throughput. Automated colony pickers analyze the visual characteristics of colonies, pick and aspirate cells from healthy colonies, and grid and re-array the colony samples on new plates.
All-in-one Synthetic Biology Workstation
What if there was a synthetic biology tool that combined the functions of all of the previous tools? This tool is available for labs that are committed to reaching the highest efficiency and throughput.
A synthetic biology workstation can handle each step in the synthetic biology pipeline, including gene assembly, transformation, colony plating, colony picking, and plasmid prep. The only inputs necessary are chassis cells and DNA constructs. The workstation has software programmed to move the experiment from each step until you have developed a new biological system.
If that sounds like a fit for your lab, contact Hudson Robotics to request a quote.
