Biomek Cell Workstation: A Variable System for Automated Cell Cultivation.

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Cell Biology
• Laboratory Automation

Background:

• Automated cell cultivation simplifies laboratory tasks, ensuring consistent quality.
• Existing systems often lack the flexibility to handle both adherent and suspension cells.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a modified Biomek Cell Workstation for automated cultivation of both adherent and suspension cells.
• To address the lack of commercially available systems capable of automated handling for both cell types.

Main Methods:

• Modification of the Biomek Cell Workstation for flexible cell culture.
• Automated cultivation and dissemination of adherent and suspension cells.
• Assessment of cell counts, viability, and proliferation using WST-1 assay.

Main Results:

• The modified system successfully cultivated both adherent and suspension cells.
• Automated handling resulted in non-significant decreases in cell counts and viability.
• Automated cell dissemination showed comparable proliferation to manual methods, with a lower standard error.

Conclusions:

• The modified Biomek Cell Workstation enables automated cultivation and dissemination of diverse suspension cell lines.
• This automated approach offers a viable and consistent alternative to manual methods in cell culture.
• Successful automated screening of suspension cells was demonstrated.