A High-Throughput Platform to Culture the Unculturables

A staggering number of microbes on Earth (99%) are not culturable using standard laboratory methods. These microbes are called “unculturable”. Microbes not grown and studied in laboratories are uncharacterized and may be a source of useful biological products and molecules. Unculturables have been found in many sample types and environments. Furthermore, characterization of these organisms will lend insight into human disease because human microbiomes harboring unculturables (e.g. oral cavity) are intricately linked to overall health. A general platform to isolate and culture unculturables from many sample types would increase the number of microbes that can be grown and characterized in laboratories. Lynntech is developing an automated, high throughput screening system that brings natural environments and the associated unculturable microbes into the laboratory. This platform is capable of processing a variety of sample matrices, and it allows for downstream analysis of newly isolated bacteria, as well as the sample matrices from which they were derived. This platform will increase the number of unculturables that can be cultured and characterized and will support the identification of new molecules from these organisms. These findings will be beneficial to disciplines ranging from agriculture to medicine, in both military and civilian sectors.