How a Colony Picker Works & How We Save You Time & Money
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Colony picking is the process of selecting individual colonies of pure, single-strain microbes from a solid media plate—such as agar plate, slide, mini gel, or petri dish—and duplicating them for further use.
Isolating microbial colonies in this stage is vital in various downstream processes, including mass spectrometry, protein purification, and PCR. Food testing, biofuels, genome editing, microbiology, synthetic biology, and immunotherapy are just a few areas that benefit from colony picking.
Colony picking is performed using a colony picker, also referred to as a colony arrayer or colony picking system, as well as a microbial colony pickers or pin colony picker depending on the manufacturer. Some of the most popular manufacturers include:
- Hudson Robotics
- Molecular Devices
- Tecan
Furthermore, automating the colony picking process has helped scientists in the life sciences industry further their work in duplicating microbes. Hand-picking bacterial or fungal colonies used to take hours, and for tasks as complex as sequencing the human genome, this was prohibitively tedious.
In addition to the massive amount of time it would take to complete, the high probability of human error often made the work useless. Luckily, colony picking has become fully automated and is optimized for both speed and accuracy.
Many automated devices rely on a multi-pin picking unit, robotic arm, multiple microplate stacks, a media dispenser, adhesive plate sealer, and standalone enclosure. This transition from using a single pin to a picking head equipped with multiple independently controlled pins has greatly sped up the duplication process.
Many devices are designed to pick from SBS-compatible omni-trays, segmented colony plates, 24-well, 96-well and 384-well plates, as well as petri dishes. The device is also capable of inoculating many of these trays and plates, from omni-trays to 24-, 96-, and 384-well plates of various heights, saving even more time.
Additionally, image processing is now performed using software. A picker will accurately identify the necessary colonies that are to be copied and transfers part of the organism to a separate medium to grow. Today, high-resolution image analysis plays a large role in automated colony picking.
Ultimately, this top-to-bottom automation has allowed scientists to go from reproducing a few hundred bacteria or fungi in a day to hundreds of thousands in a day.
Why Biotech Teams Choose Excedr
Here’s what sets our leasing program apart.
Leasing Built for Biotech Startups
Our program is designed specifically for life sciences—flexible, non-dilutive, and aligned with the needs of R&D-heavy teams.
Non-Dilutive Capital to Scale Faster
Leasing helps extend your runway without giving up equity. Fund your lab and hit key milestones without compromising ownership.
You Bring the Equipment—We Finance It
We don’t carry inventory. Once approved, you choose the exact equipment you need—we’ll structure the lease around it.
Fast Approvals for Fast-Moving Teams
Our startup-savvy process gets you approved in days—not weeks—so you can move at the pace of your science.
Terms That Match Your Timeline
Leases range from 2 to 5 years, tailored to your stage, equipment lifecycle, and budget.
Expert Support from Day One
We work directly with vendors and service providers to streamline logistics, repairs, and maintenance—so you don’t have to.
No Loan-Like Terms or Restrictions
Skip the covenants, collateral, and IP pledges. Our leases are founder-friendly by design.
Free Up Capital with Sale-Leasebacks
If you’ve already purchased equipment, we can buy and lease it back to you—converting upfront costs into flexible monthly payments.
Flexible Options at Lease-End
Choose to renew, return, or purchase at fair market value—no pressure, just options.
Popular Colony Picker Manufacturers
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