If the average number of positive clones per plate is low, plate-handling and imaging time is increased. Less than 3 percent of the output cultures will be mixed or failed inoculations. Colonies or plaques are picked from the imaged plate by tungsten needles. Each needle is washed by a high-pressure jet of water, sterilized in a small furnace, and dipped into the next selected feature. The needle is then plunged several times into a microtiter well containing the appropriate growth medium.
Software also keeps track of clone placement.
HiGro accepts four cassettes, each of which contains 12 microtiter plates. The cassettes are loaded into four independent growth chambers. During growth, HiGro controls temperature and oxygen level for each chamber. The chambers can be vigorously shaken at up to 650 rpm on an 8 mm orbit. Combining fast orbital shaking with precise temperature control and increased oxygenation results in reproducibly excellent yields for bacterial and phage cultures.