Hades: high-throughput fluorescence-based phenotyping of in vitro root systems

Together with our partner, Photon Systems Instruments, we are currently finalising the designs for the NPEC’s high-throughput in vitro root phenotyper, the Hades. The system will enable quantitive description of root growth and architecture, and the localisation and quantification of fluorescent proteins expressed by plant roots or by root-associated microorganisms.

Moreover, Hades will allow non-destructive and automated close range assessment of plants functional dynamics by means of VNIR hyperspectral imaging. The system will fully automate the processes of filling petri-dishes with agar solidified medium, sowing seeds, vernalisation of seeds and growing plants in appropriate environmental conditions.

Moreover it will allow complex and automated treatment of plants with microbes or synthetic communities thereof. The high-throughput plant cultivation in combination with state-of-the-art image acquisition will unprecedented experimental designs that can include 10,000 root systems on 2000 petri-dishes. We are very much looking forward to the fall of 2021, when Hades will come online as part of NPECs PMI module.