Dara Frank’s experiments with bacteria at the Medical College of Wisconsin require isolating 20,000 cells – by hand.
The tedious task takes about 160 hours and typically is done by scientists and students in her lab over two months. A robot that costs about $280,000 can do it in two days.
Frank, who has a doctorate in microbiology and immunology, hopes that the $10 billion for medical research included in the economic recovery act will enable the Medical College to buy one of the machines.