A MODIFIED ROBOTIC PIPETTOR FOR PERFORMING GENOME ANALYSIS PROTOCOLS

The requirement for automation in genome mapping and sequencing effort s has been addressed by modifying a commercially available workstation to be capable of performing some of the common laboratory operations. These operations include pipetting reaction mixtures and reagents, lo ading samples onto gels, and gridding clones onto filters. Minor adapt ations to the existing workstation allowed high throughput processing of cycle sequencing reaction mixtures and polyacrylamide gel loading. High-density gridding of YAC and cosmid libraries was accomplished wit h a floating pin replicating head. The ability to automate a variety o f unit operations-with only minor changes in racks or probes makes thi s workstation an effective tool in genome-scale efforts. A description of the modifications to the workstation and its performance will be p resented.