Laboratory automation

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/laboratory-automation

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How big is Laboratory automation?Drug discovery, clinical diagnostics, genomics, proteomics, biorepositories, and environmental testing
2. What is the field of study?Multidisciplinary strategy involving engineering, computer science, biology, and chemistry
3. What is the key technological pillars?Robotics, autosamplers, automated analytical instruments, and sophisticated software algorithms
4. Why do scientists use laboratory automation?It helps them do many experiments quickly, reduces mistakes, and lets them study big, complex questions that would be hard to do by hand.
5. How does laboratory automation help find new medicines?It lets labs test thousands of chemicals at once, speeding up the search for drugs that might help people.

Laboratory Informatics: The application of information technology and computer science to laboratory data and processes.
High-Throughput Screening (HTS): Automated experimental methods to rapidly test a large number of biological or chemical samples.
Combinatorial Chemistry: A method for rapidly synthesizing large numbers of diverse chemical compounds for screening.
Autosampler: A device that automatically introduces samples into an analytical instrument for testing.