Biotechnological methods are expected to sooner or later enable us to feed, heal and fuel the world. As is so often the case, sample throughput plays a crucial role and offers microplate readers the opportunity to support biotechnology in its big tasks.
Biotechnology encompasses methods that use cellular and biomolecular processes to improve our lives and health on earth. Without anyone being aware of it, biotechnology has been used successfully for thousands of years - for baking bread or brewing beer, for example. In modern times, many new potential areas of application for biotechnology have emerged.
The best-known example is the production of therapeutic proteins to be used as drugs through genetic engineering. This application belongs to the field of white biotechnology. In genetic engineering, microplate readers are used to confirm the successful integration of relevant sequences into the genome of the organism with modern molecular biology through gene reporter assays, or the quantification and characterisation of the produced molecules. To keep the process as cost-efficient as possible, regular sampling is necessary to investigate cell viability and metabolism in eukaryotes as well as metabolism in bacteria - these can be performed with high reproducibility on microplate readers. Recent approaches also use genetic engineering to develop novel biosensors, like shown in the AppNote: Identification of single-cell immunophenotypes with biocytometry.
In medical (red) biotechnology, high prevalence of diseases like viral infections advent high-throughput screening (HTS) for drug discovery. Here microplate readers are an essential support thanks to very fast readout times, as offered by the PHERAstar® FSX, and high sensitivity even at very low sample volumes using plates with up to 3456 wells. In addition, BMG LABTECH's microplate readers can be integrated into automated systems that allow full automation of the entire workflow. Based on genetic engineering in plants or prokaryotes, a lot of research is currently being done in the field of gene delivery, which pursues to correct genetic errors in human beings.
In green biotechnology, plants and other photosynthetic organisms are used to improve agricultural crops e.g., to increase the content of ingredients such as sugar or antioxidants in food and beverages, or to manufacture industrial products such as detergents, paper or biofuel.
The origin of every biotech application – the use in food production, to make wine, beer and cheese by fermentation - is described by yellow biotechnology. Here, too, microplate readers are used to monitor the growth and metabolism of microorganisms and for alcohol quality testing on a large scale.
The enormous variety of biotechnological applications can only be served by the equally large variety of possible methods with microplate readers. And one thing is already clear: the list will continue to grow.
Search our resources section for information about specific applications, literature citations, videos, blog articles and many other publications. Many of the resources provided are associated with current and previous instrument models and versions.
You want to analyse cellular immune types of single cells but don't have a FACS device? Here we present an alternative microplate-based method and its simplified workflow on the VANTAstar.
Pompe disease is associated with an inherited deficiency of alpha-glucosidase. Read here how a 4-fluorescence-based assay can be used to measure enzyme activity of the moss-produced enzyme version.
Read here, how the growth of group B streptococcus can be monitored in real time by expression of a bright GFP mutant with the CLARIOstar® microplate reader.
Nanoparticles are potential cost-effective antibiotics. Read here how plant-derived nanoparticles and their antibiotic capacity can be detected using a single instrument.
Genetically modified moss cells are viable expression systems for biopharmaceuticals. In this application note we highlight a cell-based assay system to determine moss cell transformation efficiency.
Gene reporter assays are sensitive and specific tools to study the regulation of gene expression. Learn about the different options available, their uses, and the benefits of running these types of assays on microplate readers.
ELISAs are a popular tool to detect or measure biological molecules in the life sciences. Find out how microplate readers can be used to advance research using immunoassays.
Antimicrobial resistance is a formidable problem across the world. Find out how microplate readers can help tackle resistant microbes.
Next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies for DNA or RNA have made tremendous progress in recent years. Find out how microplate readers can advance the quality control of nucleic acids to facilitate NGS.
Light scattering offers distinct advantages for scientists interested in immunology. Find out how the NEPHELOstar Plus is used for high-throughput immunological tests.
The LAL assay ensures that sterile pharmaceutical products and medical devices are safe for human use. This test can be run efficiently and in high throughput on a plate reader.
Roma is co-founder of a start-up that uses the CLARIOstar Plus for the detection and quantification nucleic acids.
David Bell and Miles Priestman from Imperial College London, talk about how to run a synthetic biology lab and how our microplate readers can help.
Kirsten Jensen from Imperial College London, talks about how to run a synthetic biology lab and how our microplate readers can help.
Watch how Dr Richard Kelwick analyses extracellular vesicles and their role in cancer with our microplate readers.
Chris Hirst, a Product Specialist at CyBio FeliX, talks about enabling automated synthetic biology research and how the CLARIOstar Plus can help.
Dr Stephen Trowell wrote about the recent advances in BRET-based biosensor technology and how our Plate Readers have assisted his research.
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Absorbance plate reader with cuvette port
