Bioreactor System Maintaining Microbial Physiology During Culture Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current bioreactor systems fail to maintain a constant physiological state of microorganisms during culture transfer between reactors, leading to unstable conditions and stress responses, which complicates experiments and production processes by altering environmental parameters and biomass concentrations.
Innovation Solution
A bioreactor system equipped with sensors, controllers, and control software that allows for precise control of environmental parameters and biomass transfer, ensuring that the physiological state of microorganisms remains within 20% of the initial state during and after transfer, using methods like continuous, batch, or fed-batch cultivations, and enabling identical conditions across reactors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If microbial culture is transferred between reactors using conventional methods, then the transfer process can be completed, but the physiological state of microorganisms becomes unstable and stress responses are activated
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-equilibrating transfer media with reactor conditions and pre-conditioning the microbial culture to ensure physiological stability during transfer. The media are prepared in advance with appropriate composition, and the culture is adjusted to optimal state before transfer to prevent stress responses.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces transfer media as an intermediary substance that facilitates the transfer process while maintaining physiological stability. This media acts as a buffer between the source and destination reactors, allowing gradual adaptation and preventing abrupt environmental changes that would cause stress.
2Loss of time
If the transfer rate of microbial culture is increased, then the time for transfer is reduced, but anaerobic conditions may occur and physiology changes
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback control by continuously monitoring transfer parameters such as flow rate, oxygen levels, and pH during the transfer process. Based on real-time data, the system automatically adjusts transfer conditions to maintain aerobic environment and physiological stability, preventing anaerobic conditions even at high transfer rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent ensures continuous supply of oxygen and nutrients during the transfer process through continuous media circulation and gas exchange. This continuous action prevents anaerobic condition formation while maintaining high transfer efficiency, as the media continuously replenishes oxygen and removes waste products throughout the transfer duration.
3Adaptability or versatility
If environmental parameters are changed in daughter reactors during transfer, then the physiological state can be adapted, but stress responses are activated and experiment validity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system carefully controls parameter changes by limiting environmental modifications to acceptable ranges that do not trigger stress responses. Transfer media are formulated with specific parameter ranges (pH, temperature, oxygen levels) that maintain physiological stability while allowing necessary adaptations for successful transfer without compromising experiment validity.
4Reliability
If stabilization phase is extended to ensure constant physiological state, then experiment reliability is improved, but the duration of experiments increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary stabilization actions before the actual experiment by conducting transfer media pre-equilibration and culture pre-conditioning. These preliminary actions ensure that the microbial culture reaches stable physiological state in advance, eliminating or reducing the need for lengthy stabilization phases during the experiment itself.
Data Source
AI summary
Bioreactor system and method for cloning the physiological state of microorganisms comprises in preferred embodiment of a mother-reactor and one or more daughter-reactors with sensors, stirrers, fluid and gas flow channels, scales, pumps, controllers, computer, software, valves and accessory devices. The bioreactors are inter-connected with culture transfer hose. To achieve the method, the mother-reactor is filled with necessary volume, inoculated, stabilised in continuous cultivation, the microbial culture's volume is increased in variable volume cultivation while maintaining constant physiology, microbial culture is transferred from the mother-reactor into the daughter-reactors while maintaining constant physiology, experiment in the daughter reactor follows. After the experiment daughter-reactors are sterilized and rinsed. During the experiment culture volume in the mother-reactor is increased anew, after the experiment in the daughter-reactors is finished another culture transfer follows and next experiment is conducted. This sequence—variable volume cultivation, culture transfer, experiment—is repeated until necessary data has been acquired.