AUTOMATION IN THE MOLECULAR-BIOLOGY LABORATORY - FLUORESCENT DNA-SEQUENCING AND DNA AMPLIFICATION

The work in molecular biology is repetitive, time-consuming, tedious, and error prone. It requires accuracy in dispensing small volumes of l iquid and in times of reaction. Following this, the introduction of a robotized workstation could, therefore, greatly increase quantity and reliability of data produced in the laboratory. We have modified a com mercial robotic workstation to automate two fundamental tasks in a mol ecular biology laboratory: fluorescent DNA sequencing and DNA amplific ation (polymerase chain reaction (PCR)) of plasmid and human genomic s amples. Results are presented showing the reliability of this system.