Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) — 



Phase I (1989 Awards) 



Instrumentation for Automated Colony Processing 



Norman G. Anderson 



Large Scale Biology Corporation, Roci<vilie, MD 20855 

 (301)424-5989 



The objective of this project is ( 1 ) to process large numbers of clones through colony 

 picking, (2) to purify colonies by recloning as necessary, (3) to reposition the colonies 

 in large rectangular arrays, (4) to process the DNA from each colony to allow the 

 transfer of recombinant DNAs to the nitrocellulose or other filter materials, (5) to probe 

 the arrays en masse with DNA probes under different conditions of stringency, and (6) 

 to identify and order overlapping clones. We propose to develop an automatic cloning, 

 repositioning, and hybridization analysis system based on proprietary technology that 

 can ultimately handle sets as large as 2 million clones. The system is designed to do 

 large matrix hybridization analyses at different and closely controlled stringencies and 

 to recover the filter materials used for multiple reprobing. Key elements in the design 

 are positive clone identification, arrangements for the production of duplicate sets of 

 large arrays, and long-term storage of these arrays. The entire system is designed to run 

 automatically in a remote environment under sterile conditions. 



105 



