R43GM159517

Fully autonomous robotic wet lab for stem cell culture media optimization - project summary

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are perhaps the most important and immediately actionable cells for cell rejuvenation therapies, but the difficulty of growing them in the lab limits their potential.

To address this problem, we are using a fully autonomous, ML-driven wet lab to optimize HSC culture media.

Our system, which we refer to as a “machine biologist,” has two major components: the “body,” consisting of a robotic wet lab capable of performing HSC culture experiments, and the “mind,” consisting of a machine learned (ML) computer vision model for analyzing our microscopy results and a Bayesian optimizer to perform experimental design.

This combination will allow our system to operate fully autonomously, and proceed orders-of-magnitude faster than is possible in a conventional biology lab.

Our work has the potential for transformative impact on both the way cell biology research is conducted as well as HSC-based cell therapies.

Dragonase

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES (NIGMS) SUPPORTS BASIC RESEARCH THAT INCREASES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND LAYS THE FOUNDATION FOR ADVANCES IN DISEASE DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, AND PREVENTION. NIGMS ALSO SUPPORTS RESEARCH IN SPECIFIC CLINICAL AREAS THAT AFFECT MULTIPLE ORGAN SYSTEMS: ANESTHESIOLOGY AND PERI-OPERATIVE PAIN, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY ?COMMON TO MULTIPLE DRUGS AND TREATMENTS, AND INJURY, CRITICAL ILLNESS, SEPSIS, AND WOUND HEALING.? NIGMS-FUNDED SCIENTISTS INVESTIGATE HOW LIVING SYSTEMS WORK AT A RANGE OF LEVELSFROM MOLECULES AND CELLS TO TISSUES AND ORGANSIN RESEARCH ORGANISMS, HUMANS, AND POPULATIONS. ADDITIONALLY, TO ENSURE THE VITALITY AND CONTINUED PRODUCTIVITY OF THE RESEARCH ENTERPRISE, NIGMS PROVIDES LEADERSHIP IN SUPPORTING THE TRAINING OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS, ENHANCING THE DIVERSITY OF THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE, AND DEVELOPING RESEARCH CAPACITY THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

93.859 - Biomedical Research and Research Training

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) [HHS - NIH]

Minnesota United States

State-Wide

PHS 2024-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH, CDC and FDA for Small Business Innovation Research Grant Applications (Parent SBIR [R43/R44] Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PA-24-245)