D3248: Image analysis for high-throughput screening of bacterially-derived insecticidal toxins

AgBiome is an agricultural biotechnology company that discovers microbial-based solutions for insect control by leveraging a diverse core collection of fully sequenced microbes from the plant-soil microbiome. Successful identification of active leads is achieved through integration of sequence data and performance in insect bioassays. Incorporating image analysis into bioassays allows for automation of the data extraction process which is essential in high-throughput screening. In addition, image analysis provides an objective and quantitative approach to evaluating the screening results. By extracting numerical measurements from images, researchers can obtain precise and reproducible data, eliminating potential biases associated with subjective interpretation. For this reasons, AgBiome collaborated with Ramona Optics to integrate image analysis in its insect bioassays. Ramona Optics develops large-area, high resolution imaging systems and analysis software for scientific applications. Its core imaging solutions are built around its multi-camera-array-microscope (MCAM) technology that uses numerous miniature digital microscopes operating synchronously and arrayed illumination components to capture high-resolution image data uniformly over large areas. We present two screening assays in which image analysis was incorporated.