Robotic platform speeds up directed evolution

Natural evolution is a slow process that relies on gradual accumulation of genetic mutations. Scientists have discovered ways to speed up the process on a small scale, allowing them to rapidly create new proteins and other molecules.

This technique, known as directed evolution, has yielded new antibodies to treat cancer and other diseases, enzymes used in biofuel production and imaging agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The team, led by the MIT Media Lab's assistant professor Kevin Esvelt, said its robotic platform can perform 100 times as many directed-evolution experiments in parallel, allowing for real-time progress monitoring. In addition to helping researchers develop new molecules more rapidly, the team said its technique could be used to simulate natural evolution and answer questions about how it works.

Directed evolution works by speeding up the accumulation and selection of novel mutations. For example, to create an antibody that binds to a cancerous protein, scientists would start with a test tube of hundreds of millions of yeast cells or other microbes that have been engineered to express mammalian antibodies on their surfaces.