Abstract
Design of Experiments (DoE) is a statistical tool and experimental framework that
can be leveraged by bioinformaticians and experimentalists to investigate the impact
of multiple factors, including how they interact, on a biological process e.g.
temperature, time, growth medium composition, etc. However, these experiments are notoriously difficult to execute, especially for first
time DoE experimentalist. DoE execution takes considerable planning, co-ordination and hands-on time: where
the difficulty scales with the number of factors and experimental runs. Although DoE lends itself well to automated execution, considerable efforts are
needed to automate them, especially when flexibility and speed to automation is
needed. Generally, this requires highly skilled automation engineers to deploy.
At Synthace, we’re developing Antha, software for biology. Antha massively lowers the barrier from both a planning and automation execution
perspective for running complex DoEs, where time saving are considerable. Antha allows for DoE design execution, parameterisation and sends experimental
execution information to the automation device.
By marrying together automation that lowers the barriers to entry for executing
DoE, such as the FORMULATRIX MANTIS®, we demonstrate a walk-up DoE execution
process. Here, we demonstrate a proof of concept of how Antha and the right automation
can come together to optimise growth medium for the production of eGFP. Here, we
learn about the factors that impact the biology in a highly efficient way.
- The application of Antha’s DoE capabilities and the FORMULATRIX MANTIS ® device
exemplify that time savings regarding complex experimental planning and execution
can deliver speed to scientific insight, where applications could range from Drug
Discovery and beyond.
