PlasmoTron: an open-source platform for automated culture of malaria parasites

We have created a system which allows an inexpensive opensource liquid-handling robot to automate most aspects of bloodstage malaria parasite culture. Parasites are cultured in multiwell microplates, with their details recorded in a database. Information in the database is used to generate commands for the robot to feed, monitor and passage parasite cultures. We show that the system is capable of raising cultures after transfection and then maintaining them at desired parasitaemias, facilitiating significant scale up of both routine culture and experimental genetic modification. The PlasmoTron software is available at plasmotron.org.