"This research is very exciting as we have given the robot under our supervision - the ability to design the experiments and interpret the data for us," says Professor Ross King from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. "There is increasing need for automation in the biological sciences and, although the problems we set for the robot were relatively simple, we have shown that it could be used to help solve real-world problems."

The researchers set the robot the problem of discovering the function of different genes in baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). The functions of about 30% of the 6,000 genes in yeast are still unknown and, with many of these genes thought to be common to the human genome, they could prove to be medically important in the future. The research involved using "knockout" strains of yeast that have had one gene removed. By observing how the yeast grows, or doesn't grow, on defined chemical substrates, it is possible to start establishing different possible functions for the gene being investigated. "This is like trying to understand what the different components in a car do by removing them one by one, " says Professor King.

The robot scientist generates a set of hypotheses from what it knows about biochemistry and then plans an experiment that will eliminate as many hypotheses as possible, as fast and as cheaply as possible. It conducts experiments by dispensing and mixing liquids and then measuring the growth of yeast using an adjacent plate reader that feeds the results back into the system. The robot then evaluates the results against the set of hypotheses, generates new hypotheses, and the process starts again
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Contact: Professor Ross King, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
rdk@aber.ac.uk
44-197-062-2432
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
14-Jan-2004