Automation in biotechnology - active ingredient analysis on brain tissue

Purpose - Introduction of an automated laboratory system for a new field of laboratory operation, namely cultivation and handling of live brain tissue. Design/methodology/approach - The company's expertise in manual throughput was transferred to automatable methods. Processing data is used for scheduling purposes to yield efficient production of results. Findings - Automated process has comparable survival rates and high reproducibility. Time tolerance is lower than for manual operation. Research limitations/implications - Several bottle necks of the system have been identified and are to be improved upon in future research. These are especially "handling of membrane inserts" and slow-running procedures. Practical implications - Cataloging of activity data (timestamps, parameters, etc.) allows for much easier statistical analysis and data-mining than with manual operation data. Originality/value - Tissue-based, high-throughput screening is a seminal field in laboratory automation.