Colony Picking is a powerful workflow tool in mammalian cell line development and the study of microbiology. The use and choice of applications for colony screening solutions have increased in conjunction with advancements in biotechnology research.
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Scientific challenges recently encountered in this field include the development of CRISPR-based genome editing technologies and the necessary production of new and efficient therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 50 drugs in 2021. A total of 36 were new chemical compounds. The remaining 14 were biologics, including peptides, oligonucleotides, and antibody-drug conjugates, reflecting increased relevance for this classification of drugs.1
In this context, quick and systematic colony picking and clone screening processes shorten workflow timelines in therapy development. The product benefits from an improvement in quality and faster updating of regulatory processes, aligning with the US FDA recommendations.
This eBook aims to assist scientists in selecting the most suitable automated colony-picking solution, taking into account the requirements for high throughput, various applications, and key challenges of the process. The focus lies on evaluating existing microbial and mammalian clone screening devices, offering a comparison of different established technologies.
A Brief History of Microbiology and Colony Picking Modern Applications
Microbiology is the study of all microbial living organisms, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and microalgae. The studies of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) laid the groundwork for microbiology’s increased relevance in biotechnology today.
In biotechnology, microorganisms are frequently utilized as living factories producing proteins or chemicals that cannot otherwise be manufactured. Biotechnology has an extensive range of applications that require colony picking, including library management, antibiotic discovery, phage display, and antibody production.
DNA sequencing workflows include several steps where the sample genome is fragmented, cloned, combined with other reagents, and then analyzed to determine its sequence.
Automated colony picking can be easily integrated into this workflow, specifically in the cloning phase, as the more samples that can be replicated, the larger the DNA strands that can be analyzed.
This advancement was pivotal during the initial mapping of the human genome and remains of significant interest to scientists currently employing CRISPR-based gene editing technologies..2
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References and Further Reading
1. Al Shaer D, Al Musaimi O, Albericio F, de la Torre BG. 2021 FDA TIDES (Peptides and Oligonucleotides) Harvest. Pharmaceuticals. 2022 Feb 13;15(2):222.
2. https://www.genome.gov/human-genome-project