Automated culture

Also many other applications have been implemented on the LSI platform over the last years protein crystallization [131], immunoassays [132], automated culturing of cells [133] or multicellular organisms [134] and DNA synthesizing [135],... 

Beuzenberg, V, Mountfort, D., MacKenzie, L., and Holland, P. Enhancement of gymnodimine production in automated culture of Karenia selliformis, in Proceedings 12th International Conference of Harmful Algae, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4—8 September 2006, abstract PO. 09-11. 

Figure 2. Automated culture of isotopically enriched plants in a closed growth system...

SC = suspension culture ARB = automated roUerbotdes MA = mouse ascites. 

At present, cell culture work is done mostly by hand by horticulturists in large greenhouses (Plate 3). Chemical engineers could greatly increase the usefulness of this method of plant propagation by developing efficient automated processes for producing plants from cloned cells. 

PLATE 3 Cell culture of plants now takes place in individual containers cared for by hand. Automation of plant cell culture using chemical engineering techniques could improve the yields and economics of plant cell culture and expand the range of its applications in the production of new species and hybrids. Courtesy, Monsanto Company. 

Analytics plays a critical and sometimes underestimated role in the pace and direction of industrial projects. As laboratories are increasingly automated, the management skills of scientists are increasingly relied upon to coordinate a complex and dynamic workplace.107 There are many aspects of project management which are not within the discretion of an analytical manager. The exigencies of project timing and institutional culture, as well as the nature and volume of the sample stream, influence the flow and... 

A variety of commercial kits and automated systems are available to test the abilities of bacteria to assimilate, ferment, decarboxylate, or cleave selected organic compounds.46 Their reliability for species identification is usually greater with cultures from clinical samples, where a limited number of bacteria are commonly encountered, and less with environmental soil and water samples, where a great many uncommon or previously unidentified species not in the database are likely to be present.29,45 Additional tests beyond those found in the commercial kits may be necessary for example, the hydrolysis of various nitriles and amides is useful for identifying Rhodococcus spp.47 Some commercial kits for clinical use feature antimicrobial susceptibility testing.21... 

Step 2. Instrumental isolation out of liquid culture media of individual cells. Step 3. Automated cell washing and cell suspension normalization to standard... 

A plasmid-based transient expression system (InsectDirect system from EMD Biosciences Inc., USA www.emdbiosciences.com) will most probably greatly facilitate parallelization and automation for insect cell cultures. It generally gives lower yields, since expression is driven by an early baculoviral promoter, but it is possible to evaluate protein activity and expression level 24 h after transfection. It is also scalable to 1 L volume. The two main disadvantages, namely the large amount of transfection agent required and the limitation in scalability, can probably be overcome in future. 

Directed evolution relies on the analysis of large numbers of clones to enable the discovery of rare variants with unproved function. In order to analyze these large libraries, methods of screening or selection have been developed, many of which use specialized equipment or automation. These range from the use of multichannel pipettes, all the way up to robotics, depending on the level of investment [59]. Specialized robotic systems are available to perform tasks such as colony picking, cell culture, protein purification, and cell-based assays. 

The trend in the industry has been to automate the Caco-2 permeability assay using semi- or fully automated procedures. With such a system it is possible to obtain a throughput in order of approximately 400-500 compounds per week. Automated Caco-2 assay systems are commercially available through Tecan/BD Bioscience and Bohdan Mettler Toledo. In addition, automated systems for maintenance of cell cultures are commercially available, while totally automated systems for both maintenance and culturing of cells grown on permeable filter supports are under development, e.g., by companies such as The Automation Partnership. 

Very few published data exist on the evaluation of automated systems, though one report has been made of an automated absorption assay using Caco-2 cells cultured on both sides of polycarbonate membranes [93], The concept of culturing cells on the lower sides of the membranes was investigated as a means of improving the opportunity to study transport in the secretory basolateral to apical direction. However, this approach resulted in increased variability and impaired active transport properties of the cell monolayers, and was therefore not recommended. 

Taken together, the limited experiments conducted using neuronal cell cultures illustrate a distinct difference in the way that pyrethroids modify ion conductance and subsequent neurotransmitter release under resting and depolarized conditions. Continued efforts utilizing recent new tools like automated patch-clamp systems and MEAs to assess the effects of pyrethroids on the kinetics and voltage-dependent gating of ion channels in primary cultures or transfected cells is likely to provide new insight into the neurotoxicity of pyrethroids [79, 82]. 

Automated roller bottle cell culture systems, 5 35 It... 

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