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Updated: Sep 8, 2025
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Automated Robotic Liquid Handling Assembly of Modular DNA Devices
Published on: December 1, 2017
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Automated Assembly of Programmable RNA-Based Sensors
James M Robson1,2, Nery R Arevalos1,2, Alexander A Green1,2,3
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, United States.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|August 20, 2025
Summary
This study introduces an automated robotic pipeline for rapidly constructing RNA sensor plasmids, significantly speeding up the design and production of genetic tools for diagnostics and research.
Area of Science:
- Synthetic biology
- Molecular biology
- Genetic engineering
Background:
- Engineered RNA sensors are crucial for diagnostics, RNA detection, and genetic circuits.
- Current methods for RNA sensor development are slow and labor-intensive.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an automated, high-throughput plasmid assembly pipeline for creating RNA sensors.
- To improve the efficiency and reliability of RNA sensor construction.
Main Methods:
- Utilized liquid handling robotics (NGS Hamilton Microlab STAR) for automated plasmid assembly.
- Compared automated assembly with traditional manual methods across two plasmid backbones.
- Constructed 144 plasmids encoding riboregulators targeting viral sequences.
Main Results:
- The automated pipeline enabled high-throughput construction of plasmids with arbitrary sequences.
- Demonstrated efficiency and reliability of the automated method compared to manual assembly.
- Successfully created functional RNA sensors targeting diverse viral sequences.
Conclusions:
- The automated plasmid assembly platform accelerates the development of engineered RNA sensors.
- This modular approach is effective for constructing diverse genetic elements for various applications.
- The assembled plasmids function effectively in both bacterial and cell-free systems.
