Growthcurver: an R package for obtaining interpretable metrics from microbial growth curves

Background Plate readers can measure the growth curves of many microbial strains in a high-throughput fashion. The hundreds of absorbance readings collected simultaneously for hundreds of samples create technical hurdles for data analysis. Results Growthcurver summarizes the growth characteristics of microbial growth curve experiments conducted in a plate reader. The data are fitted to a standard form of the logistic equation, and the parameters have clear interpretations on population-level characteristics, like doubling time, carrying capacity, and growth rate. Conclusions Growthcurver is an easy-to-use R package available for installation from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). The source code is available under the GNU General Public License and can be obtained from Github (Sprouffske K, Growthcurver sourcecode, 2016).