How automated electroporation reshapes bacterial transformation

Electroporation is a known and reliable technique to transform bacteria. In contrast to other methods, it also works well for complex cargos, including co-transfection of several plasmids or CRISPR constructs. But what if you could move from a single cuvette approach to an automated 96-well electroporation process to transform bacteria?

Key takeaways:

Automated electroporation offers a more efficient alternative to tedious transformation methods, especially for hard-to-transform bacteria and complex cargos
Going from single cuvettes to a high-throughput electroporation system can significantly speeds up processes
Automation significantly reduces personnel time, which can lead to substantial cost savings even without exact transformation cost figures

In a recent webinar on automated transformation of a gram-positive platform organism for strain construction Julia Tenhaef and Tobias Rosch explained how they've implemented automation into their AutoBioTech platform.

Transforming bacteria: Not always easy

Common misconception

“I think that the fact that bacteria [are] easy to transform is a slightly prejudice view due to the fact that most labs work with easy organisms such as E. coli where this is true. Gram positive organisms, which have a very thick cell wall, can be very hard to transform.”

Traditional transformation methods

“For such organisms, there's usually only very tedious methods. Where you have a lot of resuspension steps, many iterative cultivations [to] get this kind of competency where you simply [must] add cells and DNA together and do nothing else.”

Electroporation as a solution

“Electroporation is a really good method to access these hard-to-transform organisms. It's a one-for-all method, meaning that we can also apply it to easy-to-transform organisms and even further push the efficiencies that we get with these.”

Automated transformation for strain construction

Webinar

Learn about automated transformation of a gram-positive platform organism for strain construction.

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96-well electroporation for transformation of bacteria

Webinar on 7 October

Learn how to accelerate your research with cutting-edge approaches to streamline and scale microbial transformation.

Steps to integrate new systems into the platform

Step 1: Compatibility check

“The process of integrating a new device usually starts with figuring out if that device can communicate with our platform. As long as there's some kind of automation server or something available, usually devices can be easily integrated into our platform.”

Step 2: Start with manual workflows

“When it comes to the workflows that we're automating, we usually start with manual workflows and replicating all the actions that are being performed on our device by hand.”

Step 3: Gradual automation

“Step by step, [we] change the human into robotic integration. And then, for example, start with liquid handling robots first instead of manual pipetting and then integrate the transport of lab wear by the robot and so on and so on.”

Time is money: The real value of automation

Biggest impact

“A big impact [on] our side is the time that scientists get back when using the automated method.”

Major cost factor

“One big cost is [the] costs of personnel. And therefore, I'd say that the costs that are saved [by] automation are actually very high.”

Be in charge of your research with proven, reliable and innovative technology. Transform your research into real-world impact using automated bacterial transformation with the high-throughput electroporation system – the 4D-Nucleofector^® 96-well Unit.

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The future of CRISPR

Watch the expert panel discussion on demand and learn how Carrie Eckert uses automated electroporation for bacterial transformation.

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4D-Nucleofector^® Core Unit and 96-well Unit.

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References

Rosch TM, Tenhaef J, Stoltmann T, Redeker T, Kösters D, Hollmann N, Krumbach K, Wiechert W, Bott M, Matamouros S, Marienhagen J, Noack S. AutoBioTech─A Versatile Biofoundry for Automated Strain Engineering. ACS Synthetic Biology. 2024 Jul 19;13(7):2227-2237

Tong Y, Jørgensen TS, Whithford CM, Weber T, Lee SY. A versatile genetic engineering toolkit for E. coli based on CRISPR-prime editing. Nature Communications. 2021 Sep 1;12(1):5206

Disclaimer: The opinions of the researchers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employer. The views and opinions expressed in webinars are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position, or opinions of Lonza. Webinars feature content from third-party contributors, and Lonza does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented.