General Automation Lab Technologies and CosmosID Launch Second Microbiome Challenge

The GALT Prospector System is a novel, high-throughput platform for cultivating microbial isolates from complex microbiome samples. It uses microfabricated arrays containing thousands of nanoscale isolation and cultivation chambers that allow individual microbes to self-sort and grow into single strain microcolonies. The system can be used for massively parallel cultivation of 1000s of microbial isolates from the human gut microbiome enabling rapid generation of large, diverse libraries and cultivation of rare species that may be critical for downstream functional characterization experiments.

“Being able to parse the full complexity of communities in the human gut microbiome requires not just knowing which strains are present but also determining what each constituent strain does and how they interact with each other, their host and environment. High-throughput tools for microbial cultivation that can facilitate the isolation of thousands of living strains for functional studies will be needed to enable this research,” said Peter Christey, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of GALT. “We are delighted to be partnering with CosmosID to combine our innovative approaches and to encourage the community to submit creative ideas for microbiome research projects that may not have been feasible until now.”

The CosmosID platform uses proprietary sequence analysis algorithms to accurately profile all microorganisms in a metagenomic sample employing next-generation DNA sequencing. It can be used for rapid identification of microorganisms for molecular diagnostics, clinical trials, public health, food safety, agriculture and environmental applications.

Manoj Dadlani, CEO of CosmosID, commented: “CosmosID is powered by the largest database of microbial genome information which enables strain level resolution of bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, viruses and even unknown microorganisms. We are excited to team up with GALT once again to support and accelerate innovative research in this burgeoning field.”

Researchers may enter the challenge by submitting a short abstract proposing a project that would make use of the GALT and CosmosID technologies. Abstract submission opened on August 10, 2020 and will close at midnight PST on November 30, 2020. A committee from GALT and CosmosID will select the winning abstract based on research creativity, scientific impact, and innovation. For full contest details and terms, please visit: https://www.galt-inc.com/hgm-scientific-challenge/.

About CosmosID

CosmosID®, based in Rockville, Maryland, is a genomics big data company focused on rapid identification of microorganisms for molecular diagnostics, clinical trials, public health, food safety, agriculture, and environmental applications. The CosmosID platform uses proprietary sequence analysis algorithms to accurately profile all microorganisms in a metagenomic sample employing next-generation DNA sequencing. CosmosID was founded in 2008 by Dr. Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation and currently Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. To learn more please visit www.cosmosid.com.

About GALT

General Automation Lab Technologies (GALT), a privately held company based in Silicon Valley, is a leading developer of next-generation cultivation platforms for microbiome research and microbial product development, addressing high-impact markets including human health, agriculture, environmental science, and microbial products for industrial use. Until now, advances in these areas have been limited by century-old tools that have low productivity and do not scale. GALT’s Prospector platform streamlines and automates the most difficult and labor-intensive aspects of microbiology to enable scalable screening, cultivation, and analysis of microorganisms in complex, real-world samples. The company’s high-throughput platform provides a living, high-resolution snapshot of complex samples and will allow scientists in academia and industry to understand and harness the true diversity of microbial life, opening up new opportunities for microbial product development.

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