@article{880f660e4a3947c5871a1909d93ed8d2,
title = "An Integrated Laboratory Robotic System for Autonomous Discovery of Gene Function",
abstract = "Progress in laboratory automation depends not only on automating the physical aspects of scientific experimentation, but also on the intellectual aspects. We present the conceptual design, implementation, and our user-experience of “Adam,” which uses machine intelligence to autonomously investigate the function of genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These investigations involve cycles of hypothesis formation, design of experiments to test these hypotheses, physical execution of the experiments using laboratory automation, and the analysis of the results. The physical execution of the experiments involves growing specific yeast strains in specific media and measuring growth curves. Hundreds of such experiments can be executed daily without human intervention. We believe Adam to be the first machine to have autonomously discovered novel scientific knowledge.",
keywords = "robot scientist, yeast growth, yeast metabolism, gene function, discovery, laboratory automation",
author = "Sparkes, {Andrew Charles} and King, {Ross Donald} and Wayne Aubrey and Michael Benway and Byrne, {Emma Louise} and Clare, {Amanda Janet} and Maria Liakata and Magdalena Markham and Whelan, {Kenneth Edward} and Michael Young and Jem Rowland",
note = "Sparkes, A., King, R. D., Aubrey, W., Benway, M., Byrne, E., Clare, A., Liakata, M., Markham, M., Whelan, K. E., Young, M., Rowland, J. (2010). An integrated laboratory robotic system for autonomous discovery of gene function. Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation, 15, (1), 33-40. Sponsorship: U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; Society for Biomolecular Screening 2 award from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and by fellowships from the Royal Academy of Engineering/Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and by the Royal Commission for the Great Exhibition of 1851",
year = "2010",
month = feb,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.jala.2009.10.001",
language = "English",
volume = "15",
pages = "33--40",
journal = "Journal of The Association for Laboratory Automation",
issn = "1535-5535",
publisher = "SAGE Publishing",
number = "1",
}