Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Research Programs/Scope of Projects: The requested colony picking and screening robot is a versatile instrument that will enable high-throughput generation and analysis of large microbial libraries, driving discovery in the fields of molecular biology, synthetic biology, microbiology, virology, and biotechnology. This instrument will immediately support the research programs of four NSERC-funded early-career researchers and one established researcher, with additional groups expressing interest in using this infrastructure in the future. More specifically, this instrument will support research and training across three Faculties and four Departments at Queen's University, advancing discovery in a wide range of topics: from transcription and epigenetic regulation, to viral infection, antibiotic resistance detection, plastic biodegradation, and microbial inoculant optimization. As such, this instrument will significantly enhance research capacity at Queen's, lay the foundation for the establishment of a biofundry core, and help position Canada at the forefront of developing solutions to the plastic waste crisis and sustainable alternatives to chemical fertilisers. The Instrument and Need: The S&P Robotics system enables automated high-throughput microbial library generation and screening in 96, 384, and 1536 format. Automated plate loading reduces hand-on-time and reusable pinning tools reduces plastic waste and lowers the cost of consumables. A user-friendly interface means that HQP will be able to quickly master the system, gaining valuable skills and increasing research productivity. This infrastructure is urgently needed to support a growing number of research programs requiring large-scale microbial screening. Currently, there are no microbial picking and screening robots available at Queen's, requiring us to outsource important experiments or limit their scope. In the long term, lack of access to this kind of infrastructure will make it difficult to compete against a growing number of researchers who have access to high throughput screening capabilities, hindering our ability to build internationally recognized research programs. Impact of the infrastructure on HQP Training: The requested infrastructure will provide HQP from five research groups with hands-on experience in high-throughput microbial screening, a skill set in high demand across both academia and the biotechnology sector. By facilitating automated, high-throughput microbial library generation and screening, this infrastructure will support HQP in building competitive CVs, facilitating more impactful research projects, and significantly enhancing productivity. The user-friendly interface of the system means that HQP at all stages of their career will be able to access and benefit from this infrastructure.