Constructing a Low Cost Instrumented Microbioreactor

University Of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

Currently available instrumented bioreactors are expensive and bulky, thus making bioprocess development inefficient, as large numbers of simultaneous experiments simply cannot be conducted. The project objectives are to construct a low-cost instrumented micro-bioreactor and to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a small-scale research module using optical sensor technology. The proposed work aims to extend the micro-bioreactor scale down to 250 microliters working volume in a 96 well microplate platform so that 96 fermentations can be carried out and monitored simultaneously. The PI proposes to design and construct such a device that will enable parallel monitoring and analyses of large number of fermentation and cell culture parameters. They anticipate that at about the cost of a bench top bioreactor ($20,000) they will be able to construct the instrumented micro-bioreactor platform. It is anticipated that the impact of this proposed work would be significant. This research result will remove a major bottleneck in bioprocess development and allow for much speedier and efficient optimization of fermentation and cell culture processes.