A handful of Hamilton, Ont., scientists say they hope to meet the sudden demand for novel coronavirus test results with the help of so-called “robot colleagues.” A team of molecular microbiologists at the research institute of St.
Joseph’s hospital plan to mix safety and speed with the rollout of a robotic liquid-handling system that, when finished, should be able to confirm test results in just two and a half hours.
Dr. David Bulir at the Research Institute of St. Joe’s Hamilton says there’s a growing need for faster turnaround times with incoming coronavirus samples, and he hopes the new robotics will be able to jump from testing 700 samples per 24 hours to about 1,500 over the same timeframe. “There’s so many samples that people can’t