关键词: 合成生物学, 生物铸造厂, 自动化平台, 标准化实验流程

Abstract:

Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on designing, modifying, and synthesizing biosystems. It uses engineering principles to design and modify biosystems and even create novel "artificial life" to provide biological functions that meet human needs. Due to the high complexity of biosystems, extensive trial and error experiments are often required to gradually realize the desired engineering goals, resulting in high research costs and slow progress. With the continuous development of automated synthetic biology technology, multiple automated synthetic biology facilities have been established or are under construction worldwide. Biofoundry is an integrated automated scientific facility that combines the principles of intelligent manufacturing with the theoretical foundation of synthetic biology. It enables fast construction and testing of reprogrammed living organisms through the integration of intelligent and automated high-throughput devices. This article introduces the background, design, operation, and application aspects of iBioFoundry, an automated synthetic biology facility established at ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center. The iBioFoundry adopts a modular design concept and integrates various peripheral devices with three track-mounted robotic arms to build four functional modules: sample library, DNA assembly, cell screening and cultivation, and analysis. To meet the requirements of different research tasks and maximize the utilization of the device, iBioFoundry has a multi-task process management function, which is able to track and record all the process handling information of the entire experimental process and achieve traceability of all samples. Through a brief description and analysis of the high throughput construction of engineered E. coli strains and the enzyme directed evolution and screening, the article discusses the formulation of experimental automation schemes, programming of experimental processes, and on-machine operation. The article also shares some thoughts on the allocation of consumable storage space, parallel execution of multiple experimental tasks, and standardization of experimental processes. Automated synthetic biology facilities can help researchers significantly improve experimental efficiency. By combining the large amount of high-quality data generated by the facility with information technology, the automated "design-build-test-learn (DBTL)" engineering cycle in synthetic biology research can be achieved in a high-throughput, low-cost, and multi-cycle manner, accelerating the research efficiency of synthetic biology in both fundamental and many biotechnological application fields.

Key words: synthetic biology, biofoundry, automation platform, standardized experimental process