Shimadzu Corporation and Kobe University have started verifying the utility of a prototype autonomous laboratory system based on using robotic, digital, AI, and other technologies. The intention is to develop an autonomous laboratory system that is actually used in society, such as for developing biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, or new materials.

Shimadzu Corporation has been jointly researching "smart cells" (biological cells artificially modified using advanced technology in synthetic biology) with Kobe University (with Prof. Tomohisa Hasunuma' group at the Engineering Biology Research Center) for three years since 2018. If smart cells successfully mass produce substances that were previously difficult to do, it could trigger a technological revolution in a variety of areas, such as pharmaceuticals, foods, new materials, environmental remediation or alternative materials for petrochemical products. However, the experimental design process involved in developing new smart cells and preparing a path to mass production is extremely complex. Consequently, it is taking a long time to optimize production processes.

In order to build the autonomous laboratory system, Shimadzu Corporation and Kobe University have been partnering to jointly verify efficiency improvements based on the DBTL cycle since June 2021, including improvements to designing metabolites/genes (D: design), building hosts (B: build), evaluating productivity and metabolomics (T: test), and analyzing experimental results (L: learn). Specifically, the joint research topics are "improving the enzymatic functions causing bottlenecks in metabolic pathways for producing substances with enhanced functional properties" and "automatically optimizing parameters in the smart cell cultivation." Based on the data acquired with analytical instruments, AI is used to prepare the following experimental conditions for building strains that enable more efficient and rapid production and optimizing cultivation parameters. The autonomous laboratory system was installed inside the biofoundry facility at the Kobe University Integrated Research Center (Port Island, Kobe), where verification tests will be performed to prepare the system for actual use in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, new material development, and other fields.

In November, Shimadzu Corporation invested in and signed a corresponding partnership agreement with Bacchus Bio innovation Co., Ltd., a biotech startup company spun off from Kobe University. In the future, Shimadzu will engage in research and development for promoting smart cells in collaboration with Kobe University and Bacchus Bio innovation Co., Ltd.

Photo: Overview of Prototype Autonomous Lab System

Photo: Robot-compatible LC Unit in Autonomous Lab System

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Shimadzu Corporation published this content on 17 December 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 17 December 2021 05:28:02 UTC.