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

We have created a system which allows an inexpensive open-source liquid-handling robot to automate major aspects of malaria parasite culture. Parasites are cultured in multi-well microplates, with their details recorded in a database. Information in the database is used to generate commands for the robot which result in the feeding, monitoring and passaging of parasite cultures. We show that the system is capable of raising cultures after transfection, and then maintaining them at desired parasitaemias. The PlasmoTron software is available at plasmotron.org.