The prospects of automation in drug discovery research using silkworms

Drug Discov Ther. 2024 Apr 4. doi: 10.5582/ddt.2024.01013. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTWe have established several models of infectious diseases in silkworms to explore disease-causing mechanisms and identify new antimicrobial substances. These models involve injecting laboratory-cultured pathogens into silkworms and monitoring their survival over a period of days. The use of silkworms is advantageous because they are cost-effective and raise fewer ethical concerns than mammalian subjects, allowing for larger experimental group sizes. To capitalize on these benefits, there is a growing importance in mechanizing and automating the experimental processes that currently require manual labor. This paper discusses the future of laboratory automation, specifically through the mechanization and automation of silkworm-based experimental procedures.PMID:38569832 | DOI:10.5582/ddt.2024.01013
Source: Drug Discoveries and Therapeutics - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Source Type: research