David Laidlaw, Applikon Biotechnology Inc., 1180 Chess Drive, Foster City, CA 94404, Lawrence Chew, Fermentation, Pfenex Inc, 5501 Oberlin Dr, San Diego, CA 92121, and Stephen Boyer, MicroReactor Technologies Inc, 897 Independence Ave, Mountain View, CA 94043.
Small bench-top bioreactors promise researchers a tool capable of rapidly predicting the performance of a process in larger production vessels. Available in parallel configurations, small-sized, conventional stirred vessels offer gains in bench-top fermentation capacity due to a reduced footprint per instrumented vessel. These mini-bioreactors are batch-prepared similar to larger vessels; for this reason the capacity increase they offer comes with a concomitant increase in workload for operators. By contrast, disposable bioreactors are available pre-assembled and pre-sterilized and therefore minimize both turnover time and effort between individual fermentations. Furthermore, conducting parallel experiments in disposable bioreactors offers the dual benefits of a rapid turnover time and an increase in experiment throughput, without the increased workload for operators. The micro-24 is a parallel bioreactor capable of independent and simultaneous control of pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature of twenty-four 5-ml fermentations. By employing a single use disposable reactor cassette format, the micro-24 offers increased throughput with decreased effort. Here, we will introduce the micro-24 in detail. Engineering and control specifications will be presented along with a case study of the utility of the micro-24 in the rapid development of an industrial process and its scalability to large scale stirred vessels.
