Future and frontiers of automated screening in plant sciences

The automation of several laboratory processes and procedures did not only maximise their throughput, content and velocity, but also led to higher levels of analysis and research in many fields of life sciences. Unfortunately, the extent of automated workflows in plant sciences and biotechnology is rather low compared to the automation of applications in drug discovery and related fields. The demands for plant associated processes and analyses with higher throughput and content rates are constantly raising, mainly due to the increased interest in plants and plant-derived products in the fields of nutrition, energy and feedstock utilization. The automation of these procedures is hampered mostly by plant-specific factors. In the present review the state of automation in different fields of plant science and biotechnology will be presented together with novel trends in high-throughput analysis. A central conclusion drawn from these observations is the necessity of central automation facilities in academic research institutions to establish and enhance the utilization of automated screening methods also in plant sciences.