Construction of a calibration curve for lycopene on a liquid-handling platform-wider lessons for the development of automated dilution protocols
Author(s)
Bultelle, Matthieu
Casas, Alexis
Kitney, Richard
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Liquid-handling is a fundamental operation in synthetic biology─all protocols involve one or more liquid-handling operations. It is, therefore, crucial that this step be carefully automated in order to unlock the benefits of automation (e.g., higher throughput, higher replicability). In the paper, we present a study, conducted at the London Biofoundry at SynbiCITE, that approaches liquid-handling and its reliable automation from the standpoint of the construction of the calibration curve for lycopene in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The study has important practical industrial applications (e.g., lycopene is a carotenoid of industrial interest, DMSO is a popular extractant). The study was also an effective testbed for the automation of liquid-handling. It necessitated the development of flexible liquid-handling methods, which can be generalizable to other automated applications. In addition, because lycopene/DMSO is a difficult mix, it was capable of revealing issues with automated liquid-handling protocols and stress-testing them. An important component of the study is the constraint that, due to the omnipresence of liquid-handling steps, errors should be controlled to a high standard. It is important to avoid such errors propagating to other parts of the protocol. To achieve this, a practical framework based on regression was developed and utilized throughout the study to identify, assess, and monitor transfer errors. The paper concludes with recommendations regarding automation of liquid-handling, which are applicable to a large set of applications (not just to complex liquids such as lycopene in DMSO or calibration curves).
Date Issued
2024-08-16
Date Acceptance
2024-07-23
Citation
ACS Synthetic Biology, 2024, 13 (8), pp.2357-2375
ISSN
2161-5063
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Start Page
2357
End Page
2375
Journal / Book Title
ACS Synthetic Biology
Volume
13
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under CC-BY 4.0 .
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39096303
Subjects
BETA-CAROTENE
Biochemical Research Methods
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
calibration curve
DEGRADATION
dilution
DIMETHYLSULFOXIDE DMSO
EXTRACTION
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
liquid handling-automation
lycopene
metrology
REPRODUCIBILITY
SCIENCE
Science & Technology
TOMATO
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2024-08-03