Home Support NEBNext® Alliance Program Meet the DAMP Lab: Scaling Science Through Automation

Meet the DAMP Lab: Scaling Science Through Automation

  1. Lab Overview: Tell us a little bit about your Core Facility

    1. What is the parent institution?

    DAMP Lab is an academic core facility operating out of Boston University.

    1. Who does your core serve?

    Our clients span a wide range of sectors and stages of development, from early-stage biotechnology startups and established companies to academic research laboratories, government organizations, and nonprofit institutions. We work with investigators who need scalable, high-throughput workflows, as well as teams tackling highly specialized research challenges that require custom solutions. Our current expertise focuses on bridging disciplines among automation, molecular biology, synthetic biology, next-generation sequencing, and laboratory workflow development.

    1. How many personnel are in the lab? / How many people make up your lab team?

    Our core team includes our Founder & Director, Douglas Densmore, and our Research Director, Catherine Klapperich, along with a dedicated group of full-time staff. This staff team is composed of Laboratory Technicians, Automation Engineers, and Software Engineers who support the development, execution, and scaling of our research and service workflows. In addition to our full-time personnel, we maintain a strong and dynamic training/education component. During the academic year, we mentor undergraduate student researchers who contribute to ongoing projects on a part-time basis. In the summer, we expand this program to include full-time undergraduate interns, many of whom continue their involvement during the school year. Each semester, we also welcome a cohort of student volunteers who gain hands-on experience while collaborating on active research and engineering efforts within the lab.

    1. What technologies or workflows does your lab specialize in?

    In total, we support 57 bio-cloud operations spanning a wide range of molecular biology and bioengineering workflows. Our capabilities include foundational techniques such as DNA cloning and plasmid construction, as well as advanced applications like next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation and Illumina sequencing. A core focus of the lab is the design and implementation of automated and semi-automated workflow using liquid handlers. We leverage laboratory robotics, custom software tools, and integrated data pipelines to streamline experimental processes while improving reproducibility alongside throughput. This allows us to support both high-volume service work and the development of novel experimental methods across diverse research projects alongside our collaborators.

    1. What sequencing platforms do you operate?

    We operate the Illumina NextSeq 2000 for all of our sequencing workflows. This platform provides a flexible and high-throughput solution for a wide range of applications, and integrates seamlessly with our internal library preparation processes.

    1. What automation platforms do you employ?

    Automation is central to our approach, and our platform suite reflects that focus. We utilize the Hamilton Microlab STAR system alongside Opentrons Flex and OT-2 platforms, providing a versatile range of liquid-handling capabilities. Together, these systems allow us to support both high-throughput, production-scale workflows and smaller, modular setups optimized for rapid protocol development and iteration. This flexibility enables us to design, test, and deploy automated methods across a broad spectrum of molecular biology and sequencing applications.

  2. What are the biggest challenges you face as a core laboratory today?

    3. One of our primary challenges is visibility. Core facilities across the country are generating impactful, high-quality science, but they are often underutilized simply because researchers are not always aware of the services and capabilities available to them. As a result, consistently engaging with the right audiences and communicating our offerings remains an ongoing effort.

    A second, more systemic challenge is the lack of a unified ontology across core laboratories. Without shared standards for describing methodologies and generated data, it becomes more difficult to compare capabilities or benchmark performance across facilities. Developing more consistent frameworks for communication and data organization would significantly strengthen interoperability within the core ecosystem, and we are actively working to contribute to that effort through the development of standardized, cloud-based laboratory operations.