Colony picking has been a vital process in science labs for decades and many analytical methods rely on it. It is used to separate and grow communities from single strains for use in transformation as well as for microbial screen methods. Automated colony pickers have digitized and streamlined the process of picking, allowing for the potential to pick over 2,000 colonies per hour, or even more when scaled for large-scale facilities. Many colony picker robots also allow for easy tracking through the use of barcodes.
For choosing the right type of colony picker, it’s best to identify the desired workflow, the space required, and the cost of units.