Key Considerations When Automating Organoid Workflows

Tips and Best Practices for Streamlining Complex Biology 

The promise of organoid research is immense - from modeling human disease and screening drugs to advancing regenerative medicine. Yet as organoid solutions become more complex, so do the challenges of scaling and maintaining reproducibility. Automating organoid workflows can bridge this gap, empowering scientists to accelerate discovery while ensuring consistency and precision.

At Advanced Solutions Life Sciences (ASLS), we’re helping research teams worldwide automate their 3D biology workflows. Below are key considerations and best practices when implementing automation for organoid culture and analysis.

1. Hardware Integration: Systems Built for Biological Precision

Automation begins with hardware that understands biology. Traditional liquid-handling robots or lab automation platforms may not fully accommodate the delicate, 3D nature of organoids nor the often complicated operations associated with organoid work.

Hardware systems need to be designed to:

• Support sterile, enclosed environments to maintain culture integrity.

• Enable flexible workflows — from dispensing biological matrices to imaging and sampling — without manual transfer steps.

• Provide modular scalability, allowing teams to start small and expand as protocols mature

• All in One Machines to lessen movement in between steps (e.g., separate liquid handling machines)

The BioAssemblyBot® (BAB) utilizes multi-axis robotics with cell-friendly precision and environmental control to ideally handle living tissue and organoid models.

2. Software Intelligence: Unifying Control and Data

Automating organoid workflows isn’t just about moving liquids - it’s about unifying control, managing varied tasks, monitoring, and data collection.

Effective software needs to:

• Centralize control across instruments and workflows for ease of use and traceability.

• Readily prepared routines to standardize protocols while retaining flexibility for innovation.

• Integrate incubation, imaging, and analytics, to track morphology and growth metrics as well as assay outcomes over time.

BioApps™ software supports real-time control and performance without programming required.

3. Fluidics and Media Exchange: Gentle and Reproducible Handling

Fluid management is one of the most challenging aspects of organoid culture. Automated systems must replicate the care of a skilled scientist - gently exchanging media without disrupting fragile structures.

Key Considerations:

• Ensure fluidic systems maintain low shear stress to protect organoid integrity.

• Use sterile, closed-loop fluidics to minimize contamination risks.

• Optimize flow rates and timing based on organoid size, density, and matrix composition.

The BioAssemblyBot® manages aspirating and dispensing dynamics through consistent robotic control and angled tip placement to improve outcomes.

4. Error Mitigation: Designing for Reliability

Every workflow has potential failure points — pipetting errors, environmental fluctuations, data mismatches. Automation allows you to mitigate many of these risks before they occur.

Tips for Success:

• Build error detection into workflows (e.g., sensors, cameras, or software alerts).

• Establish validation checkpoints at key steps, from seeding to imaging.

• Regularly calibrate and maintain hardware to ensure long-term accuracy.

Coming Soon: Next-generation capabilities powered by BAB Intelligence™, will enable users to implement these tips. This smart software combined with our reliable hardware systems will ensure experiments run smoothly.

The Path Forward: Smarter, More Scalable Organoid Research

By uniting advanced robotics, software intelligence, optimized fluidic control, and automation with biological know-how, the BioAssemblyBot® enables researchers to focus on discovery rather than manual maintenance. As the organoid field continues to evolve, leveraging BAB automation early ensures scalability and reproducibility from the start.

At Advanced Solutions, we are organoid type agnostic.

At ASLS, we believe that automating organoid workflows isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about unlocking new frontiers in human health with our BioAssemblyBot®.