Automated DNA Extraction Monitoring System Based on MTConnect Technology

MTConnect standard technology provides simplicity, flexibility, and scalability in integrating various equipment and operating systems and enabling accurate and consistent data collection from any MTConnect-compatible system. Using MTConnect technology, it is possible to immediately identify the cause of a problem and respond quickly when a problem occurs. Molecular genetic diagnostic point-of-care testing (POCT) devices have received attention in recent years because they enable rapid disease diagnosis. A molecular genetic diagnostic POCT device is under development by the authors. The system consists of a gene extraction process and a real-time PCR-based gene amplification process. In this study, we propose and demonstrate a system based on MTConnect technology to monitor an automated DNA extraction process. The proposed system consists of an automated DNA extraction system, an MTConnect adapter, an MTConnect agent, and a client application. The adapter and agent were developed on a Raspberry Pi single-board computer. The agent publishes the collected data in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format over a network. The performance and reliability of the system were evaluated by verifying the request response time between the implemented system’s agent and the client application. The results demonstrate the feasibility of monitoring the DNA extraction process over a network.