MRI: Acquisition of a liquid-handling robotic platform for high-throughput research in urban ecology and evolution at the Louis Calder Center-Biological Field Station

福特汉姆大学获得了一个液体处理机器人平台。该技术自动化了许多涉及液体精确移动的任务，并且具有模块化设计，可高度灵活地将温度控制，板读取器和其他技术结合到标准化的多步骤协议中。这种液体处理机器人将减轻多个研究实验室数据生成的瓶颈和错误率。斯坦福大学路易斯考尔德中心（Louis Calder Center）的教职员工研究城市生态和进化、人与环境的相互作用、保护基因组学和郊区栖息地的疾病生态学。这些研究跨越了许多分类类群和栖息地，特别关注纽约市大都市区。考尔德中心是少数几个位于主要城市中心附近的野外观测站之一，自成立以来一直支持城市和郊区生态学的研究。获得液体处理机器人将支持路易斯考尔德中心的研究任务，并吸引更多的外部用户到该站。考尔德有一个活跃的本科生暑期研究经验（REU）计划，将受益于快速生成大型数据集的能力。其中包括迄今为止近100名参与者，其中一半以上是代表性不足的少数民族。考虑到这些项目的10周时间框架，简化数据收集将有助于学生的成功。生物学现在也是福特汉姆大学最受欢迎的本科专业，液体处理机器人将支持数十名已经在考尔德学院工作的本科生的研究。考尔德中心研究城市化和全球气候变化的进化后果的教员将是机器人平台的核心用户。他们的研究最近利用高通量DNA测序、生物信息学和分析方面的新进展，利用前所未有的规模和能力（特别是非模式生物）的数据集来解决各自领域的问题。群体基因组研究的样本/文库准备是劳动密集型的。在接下来的几年里，考尔德学院将在多项研究和数千个样本中使用群体基因组方法，并将使用液体处理机器人自动化几个步骤。几乎所有的程序都需要精确的DNA浓度定量和磁珠清洗。单独自动化这些步骤将提高可重复性并缩短库完成的时间。液体处理机器人将缓解数据生成的瓶颈，以及人类在长时间重复任务中固有的不可避免的错误。获得该设备将立即支持考尔德中心的各种pi，博士后，研究生，本科生和高中生的研究。

An award is made to Fordham University to acquire a liquid-handling robotic platform. This technology automates many tasks that involve precise movement of liquids, and has a modular design for highly flexible incorporation of temperature control, plate readers, and other technologies into standardized multi-step protocols. This liquid-handling robot will mitigate bottlenecks and error rates in data generation for multiple research labs. Faculty based at the Louis Calder Center, Fordham's biological field station, study urban ecology and evolution, human-environment interactions, conservation genomics, and disease ecology in suburban habitats. These studies span many taxonomic groups and habitats, with a special focus on the New York City metropolitan area. The Calder Center is one of only a few field stations located in proximity to a major urban center, and since its founding has supported research in urban and suburban ecology. Acquisition of the liquid-handling robot will support the research mission of the Louis Calder Center and attract additional external users to the station. Calder has an active summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program that will benefit from the ability to quickly generate large datasets. This included nearly 100 participants to date, more than half of whom were underrepresented minorities. Given the 10-week timeframe of these projects, streamlining data collection will facilitate student success. Biology is also now the most popular undergraduate major at Fordham, and the liquid-handling robot will support research by the dozens of undergraduates already working with Calder faculty.Calder Center faculty investigating the evolutionary consequences of urbanization and global climate change will be core users of the robotic platform. Their research has recently made use of new advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, and analytical advances to address questions in their respective fields with datasets of unprecedented size and power (particularly for non-model organisms). Sample / library preparation for population genomic studies is labor intensive. Calder faculty will use population genomic approaches for multiple studies and thousands of samples in the next few years, and will automate several steps using the liquid handling robot. Nearly all procedures require precise quantification of DNA concentration and cleaning with magnetic beads. Automating these steps alone will improve repeatability and shorten time to library completion. A liquid handling robot will mitigate bottlenecks in data generation, as well as unavoidable errors that are inherent to humans doing a repetitive task over a long time period. Acquisition of this device will immediately support the research of a diverse number of PIs, postdocs, graduate students, undergrads, and high school students at the Calder Center.