AUTOMATED SAMPLE PROCESSING USING ROBOTICS FOR GENETIC TYPING OF SHORT TANDEM REPEAT POLYMORPHISMS BY CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS

We have assembled a robotic system that couples DNA purification from bloodstain cards with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification in an automated and uninterrupted process. This system will enable thous ands of samples to be processed a day and is designed to be modular to allow peripheral devices to be added or upgraded as needed. Current w ork involves using the robotic system to produce PCR amplification pro ducts derived from loci consisting of short tandem repeats (STRs). To further reduce labor hours, these products are then detected by automa ted capillary electrophoresis, which eliminates the requirement to cas t gels and manually load samples. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.