Opentrons Customer Interview | Carlos, associate professor at North Carolina State University, uses OT-2 for biotechnology teaching

Carlos Goller teaches biotechnology and molecular biology laboratory courses at North Carolina State University using the Opentrons family of equipment, including the OT-2, Open Source API, Magnetic Module, and Thermal Cycling Module.

The customer we interviewed in this issue Carlos C. Goller is< a href="http://ncsu.edu">North Carolina State University (NCSU) Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, teaching biotechnology to undergraduate and graduate students. In his biotechnology and molecular laboratory courses, he used Opentrons OT-2 automated pipetting robot, temperature Control module, magnetic module and thermal cycle module are taught. In this issue, Carlos will share his experience with us.

Opentrons: Please briefly introduce your research background.

Carlos Goller: I am an assistant professor in the North Carolina State University Biotechnology Program and a microbiologist. I also studied computer modeling as an undergraduate at a small engineering school in Massachusetts. I received my PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Emory University. During my doctoral studies, I was studying E. coli biofilm formation while teaching and giving classes at the school. Later, I did postdoctoral research at Duke Medical Center, focusing on infectious diseases and anti-infective drugs, which gave me my first experience with laboratory automation.

Opentrons: What is your research project?

Carlos Goller: I teach biotechnology at NCSU to students and sometimes to faculty. In my course, we use an OT-2 automated pipetting robot and a Zymo research kit for DNA and RNA extraction. We now have an Opentrons thermal cycling module and will try to make our own RNAseq library.

Opentrons: Why did you choose OT-2?

Carlos Goller: As a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University, Dr. Pat Seed and I took turns using a multichannel pipette to screen 2,500 compounds. The goal of our assay was to identify compounds with good activity on uropathogenic E. coli capsule biosynthesis. At North Carolina State University, we purchased an ePMotion 5075 liquid handling robot and continued to use it for the next several years of experimental work. We also applied for internal funding to purchase the Opentrons automated pipetting platform.

Compared to other laboratory automation equipment, the OT-2 is affordable and won't put much pressure on the budget of the average teaching laboratory. We love that Opentrons software is also open source. Not having to be tied into a single piece of software, and not having to acquire a license, Opentrons' flexibility is a key advantage.

In terms of writing code, thanks to Opentrons' Online Protocol Editor, my students can do it without having any Python knowledge. By modifying Opentrons' open source protocol to better suit their workflow in the laboratory.

I don't want all 12 people in my class huddled around 2 robots. We have 2 OT-2s and ePMotion, so I divided everyone into groups of 4, each responsible for the corresponding device programming settings. By splitting the team into smaller groups, give everyone a chance to try out the machine-running challenge.

In traditional academic education settings, students may not have the opportunity to participate in large-scale, highly automated laboratory research. So, I proposed teaching a course with robots at North Carolina State University and wrote an NSF proposal. The proposal was to create a network of educators, and I worked with Dr. Sabrina Robertson at UNC Chapel Hill to build case studies to teach students methods for high-throughput drug screening, microscopy, and other high-throughput applications.

Opentrons: In what aspect do you think OT-2 helps you the most?

Carlos Goller: OT-2 allows students to spend more time working on the equipment and troubleshooting in the laboratory, instead of wasting time on tedious work. We've had a few hiccups so far - one of the OT-2s won't connect - but that's just part of the automation process and the students have embraced the challenge.

Opentrons: How is your experience running the OT-2?

Carlos Goller: Last year we gave a graduate student their first OT-2 and had them set it up from scratch, practicing with water and food coloring. We made the protocol relatively complex, but it took this student just over two hours to figure out how to use the OT-2. They were very enthusiastic about asking questions – and still very enthusiastic about their research!

Opentrons: Before you owned the OT-2, had you used other laboratory automation equipment? What are your expectations for laboratory automation processes?

Carlos Goller: I have used ePMotion 5075 and created several scripts to automate HIT picking, drug screening, bacterial dilution and qPCR. As an engineer, I love automation.

Opentrons: Do you have any plans to automate other projects?

Carlos Goller: We are working hard to develop a hands-on course for high-throughput sequencing. We can conduct courses using flow cytometers as well as Opentrons OT-2 automated pipetting robots. I hope that the combination of these two sets of instruments can help first- and second-year students better understand high-throughput manipulation methods.

Opentrons: Do you have any other experiences with the OT-2 that you would like to share?

Carlos Goller: This year we will delve deeper into laboratory automation. We've been working on a citizen science project with Opentrons and bugged Max Marrone from the Opentrons support team (he's awesome!). The project is about finding a strange microorganism that can absorb liquid gold and precipitate it into nanoparticles, so it's a really good attraction for students, but what we don't know about their genome or the genes they express Very little.

This year we have a strong focus on laboratory automation. We're working with Opentrons on a citizen science project, and we're working with Max Marrone from Opentrons' application support team, who gave Our great support! This project is about finding a special microorganism that can absorb liquid gold and precipitate it into nanoparticles, which is a great learning opportunity for students.

We are also working with Zymo to automate mag beads, trizol, and RNA-seq protocols on the OT-2. Our goal is that each group will be challenged with a 6-week half-term project where they will learn how to use OT-2 for RNA extraction. We purchased Opentrons pipettes, Opentrons magnetic modules, and Opentrons temperature modules for experimental operations.

We realize we may not fully achieve this goal, but we continue to attempt these challenging projects that involve multiple technologies and troubleshooting protocols.

I believe these courses provide students with valuable practical experience and I feel truly privileged. I really enjoyed my experience using the OT-2.