QBot

The QBot is a robotic colony manipulator that performs functions related to selection, archival, and usage of DNA libraries that are preserved in bacteria.

In principle, it can also be used with phage but due to lack of demand we have not explored those functions. The QBot was purchased as part of the commitment to recruit Dr. Paterson to UGA. The services of the instrument are available through Dr. Paterson's lab. At present, the unit is operated solely by trained personnel who are supported by Dr. Paterson's grants. Users will be billed on a cost-recovery basis, and need to provide a completed purchase order in advance, using this form.

Available QBot services include:

Blue/white selection and archival of white colonies in 96- or 384-well Q plates. Colonies need to be grown in Q-Trays which are can be purchased (at the current rate from Genetix) or borrowed for 20% of our purchase rate if returned in good condition. We will provide 96- or 384-well plates containing the appropriate media, and pick your colonies. You will have to make and grow the plates. Contact us for details and protocols.

Replication of 96- or 384-well plates.The QBot replicates plates much more quickly than a person can, as it is self-sterilizing. However, this is only efficient for large numbers of plates. Pricing is configured for a minimum of 24 plates.

Gridding. The QBot is good for gridding of large libraries onto nylon macro-arrays. This is a function that cannot be done by human hands, at the level of resolution of the QBot. Gridding requires fresh source cells to be used, so also requires replicating of your plates. You may choose to use frozen cells that you provide, but it entirely is at your own risk.

Re-arraying. The QBot is able to re-array clones from existing plates, into new orders in new plates. This requires you to provide a spreadsheet indicating the positions of the clones that you want to re-array.

All costs are subject to revision at the sole discretion of Dr. Paterson, based on wage and materials price increases, repair costs, etc. While we do not warranty the work in any way, we will be pleased to show you our results, and will consider requests to repeat work that is poor due to any errors on our part.