An integrated, easy-to-use, and cost-effective technology platform for the rapid handling and growth of large numbers of microbial strains, clonal libraries, and mutant banks in 96-well microtiter plates.
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The system enables a single person to grow and test thousands of strains simultaneously without an excess of repetitive handlings: all handlings are performed in parallel for sets of 96 strains. No robotic equipment is required.
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Same quality of growth as in Erlenmeyer flasks in terms of oxygen transfer rates and reproducibility
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The system was originally developed and validated at the Institute of Biotechnology of the ETH Zurich.
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Various users have reported time-savings of more than a factor 10.
Application areas:
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High-throughput screening for new enzyme activities or formation of secondary metabolites (heterogeneous and homogeneous culture collections)
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Screening and distribution of clone libraries in E. coli or yeasts
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High-throughput screening for high-activity or high-productivity mutants
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Comparative studies of e.g. clinical isolates
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Medium optimization studies
Main components:
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The cryo-replicator: a spring-loaded replicator for the simultaneous and reproducible sampling of 96 frozen glycerol stocks, without melting the remaining culture
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The cryo-replicator press is a guiding system ensuring an accurate vertical movement during the replication of sets of strains
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Sandwich covers convert all 96 wells of a square deepwell plate into individual "mini-reactors" (no well-to-well variations) suitable for high-frequency orbital shaking, at high oxygen transfer rates, in the absence of well-to-well variations.
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Cover clamps secure that the deepwell plate and its sandwich cover are clamped together tightly, thereby preventing well-to-well contamination
