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Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Precise, High-throughput Analysis of Bacterial Growth
Published on: September 19, 2017
Growthcurver: an R package for obtaining interpretable metrics from microbial growth curves
Kathleen Sprouffske1,2, Andreas Wagner3,4,5
1Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland.
Background:
Plate readers can measure the growth curves of many microbial strains in a high-throughput fashion. The hundreds of absorbance readings collected simultaneously for hundreds of samples create technical hurdles for data analysis.
Results:
Growthcurver summarizes the growth characteristics of microbial growth curve experiments conducted in a plate reader. The data are fitted to a standard form of the logistic equation, and the parameters have clear interpretations on population-level characteristics, like doubling time, carrying capacity, and growth rate.
Conclusions:
Growthcurver is an easy-to-use R package available for installation from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). The source code is available under the GNU General Public License and can be obtained from Github (Sprouffske K, Growthcurver sourcecode, 2016).
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