Novel robotic microscope can speed up new potential drugs' identification

Washington, December 9 (ANI): A team of researchers from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in America has created a next generation robotic microscope which can be used for high-throughput cellular image analysis to discover new potential drugs.

Dr. Jeff Price, who led the research team, has revealed that the novel instrumentation utilizes chromatic aberration-the difference in focus between different colours of light in optical systems-to simplify and speed auto-focusing of the microscope via digital colour cameras.

The researcher believes that the new device can significantly increase the productivity of new medications.

While the existing technology can screen about 20,000 to 40,000 compounds a day, Price says that the novel microscope would be able to carry out over 100,000 screens per day.

That, reckons Price, may lead to a five-fold increase in productivity. (ANI)