Laboratory Automation
It's surprising how much pharmaceutical research to date has been more art than science. Computing power is still a long way off predicting the properties of proteins and cells from their DNA, so until then the more research that can be accelerated by automation (e.g. lab robots, lab-on-chip) the better.
And this is being driven by the big pharma companies who can't afford the failure rate at late stage drug development, or worse after release which can result in multi-billion law suits. I attended an excellenty talk by the chief scientific office for GE Healthcare recently and they are mass producing stem cell lines, and the machinery to test them, so that drugs can be tested for cardio-toxicity much earlier on in the development process.
Resources
Sanofi
- Company dedicated to research and development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical drugs.
Verge Genomics
- Company using systems biology to accelerate development of life-saving treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
NuMedii
- Disrupting Drug Discovery Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.
Atomwise
- Artificial Intelligence for Drug Discovery.
Recursion Pharmaceuticals
- Biotechnology company combining experimental biology and automation with artificial intelligence.
TwoXAR
- Drug discovery and development company.
Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (Tufts CSDD)
- Academic nonprofit think tank at Tufts University dedicated to researching drug development.
Zymo Research
- Manufacturer of molecular biology research tools.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals
- Leader in discovering and developing RNA-targeted therapeutics.
NaNotics
- Company developing a novel nano-medicine platform for treating multiple diseases, including cancer, sepsis, auto-immune disorders and the harmful effects of aging.
Laboratory Automation Blog Posts
Laboratory Automation - only the white coats remain
24-Apr-2015
Recent News
Robotic scientists can do lab work faster
BBC - 06-Jul-2020
Does not mean that machines will be able to replace human scientists
Read more...Automated manufacturing of custom-engineered cell lines
News Medical - 20-May-2020
This technology is very promising and has an enormous potential
Read more...COVID-19 advanced testing lab created by UC Berkeley scientists
University of California, Berkeley - 30-Mar-2020
In response to mass testing needs, they employ robotics and automation for accuracy and speed
Read more...
