Open Source Automated Western Blot Processor

Jul 14, 2020 1 min read Hardware

Researchers in the biomedical area are always involved in methodologies comprising several processes that are repetitive and time-consuming; these researchers can take advantage of this time for other more important things.

For many years, the trend for this type of problem has been automation. One of the routine methodologies used by researchers in broad areas of basic investigation is the Western blot technique.

This method allows the detection through specific antibodies and the eventual quantification of the protein of interest in different biological lysates transferred onto a suitable membrane. This methodology involves several repetitive processes; one of them is the washing of blots after incubations with primary and secondary antibodies.

The present device has been designed to automate this process at a low cost. Researchers must use several tools to carry out the same task at a much higher price, and more importantly, in a time-consuming process. Although it is designed for the Western blot, it can be optimized for other cyclic tasks.