Startup Idea: Automated Cell Screening Software to Prevent Contamination in Biological Research

Startup idea to develop an automated cell screening software that prevents contamination in biological research labs. The software would work by scanning and analysing cell morphology to quickly identify and rectify any contamination in sample plates, saving valuable time spent waiting for confirmation of contamination.

I work in the biological research industry. We study the evolutionary history of viruses and discover new viruses as well as determine the functions of their genes.

• A big pain in my daily work is that our samples become contaminated, especially during seasonal changes when humidity and air composition change. No computer software or computerized robots/programs have been designed to help us manage this problem.
• My research lab, and many others I'm sure, would certainly pay for software to solve this! Having contamination in our work can put us behind days and sometimes even weeks in our experimentation, since we have to wait for the contamination to grow along with our samples to even realize that we need to start over (which often takes 18-24 hours).
• This software would solve our problem by creating a cell screening process for our plates. It could be a microscope system that is hooked to a computer with a scanning program that searches for various cell types. Based on the morphology of the cells, we could tell whether cells are there that do not belong and decide that the sample has been contaminated and re-do that sample without having to waste 18-24 hours to realize that contamination has appeared. It would be an amazing, time-saving software for biological research laboratories.