IDBR: Microscale Continuous Culture Bioreactor Array

IDBR：微型连续培养生物反应器阵列

• 批准号: 0649879
• 负责人: Rajeev Ram
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-08-15 至 2010-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0649879&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IDBR; Microscale; Continuous; Culture; Bioreactor

This award is for developing a polymer-microchip-based instrument for multiple microscale continuous culture experiments in parallel. The instrument will be used for research on microbial growth kinetics for microbial physiology, genetics, ecology and biotechnology. While research has been focusing on understanding these growth kinetics from a genomic level, there is still great difficulty in making the leap from genetic analysis to accurate verification with batch culture growth experiments. Batch cultures are not ideal for characterizing cellular processes, because cells are constantly subjected to environmental changes that are difficult to analyze. In continuous culture, log-phase culture is maintained in steady state by controlling the environmental conditions and providing a steady inflow of nutrients and an outflow of culture broth from the growth vessel. A chemostat, for continuous culture experiments, can maintain consistent growth conditions for weeks, eliminating secondary growth effects that can overshadow small changes and allowing for reliable and reproducible data necessary in growth kinetics experiments. Under such long time scales, factors such as the cost of medium, maintaining sterility during medium addition, and number of experiments necessary become increasingly important. The objective of this project is to develop a system specifically designed for performing microscale parallel continuous cultures that is simple and inexpensive enough to be used in undergraduate laboratories, while providing the precision, data quality, and control capability sufficient for investigation in research laboratories.This is a project to develop plastic microchips with controlled microenvironments smaller than a drop of water, for cell growth studies. These microscale life-support systems provide oxygen to the cells, neutralize their waste, and ensure that the cells are well-fed. The goal is to develop microchips that are inexpensive enough for undergraduate labs, as well as research. The microchips will be tested in undergraduate labs by developing modules for undergraduate research projects for an undergraduate course.

该奖项旨在表彰开发一种基于聚合物微芯片的仪器，用于并行多个微型连续培养实验。 该仪器将用于微生物生理学、遗传学、生态学和生物技术领域的微生物生长动力学研究。虽然研究一直集中在从基因组水平上了解这些生长动力学，但从遗传分析到通过批量培养生长实验进行精确验证的飞跃仍然存在很大困难。批量培养对于表征细胞过程并不理想，因为细胞不断受到难以分析的环境变化。 在连续培养中，通过控制环境条件并提供营养物质的稳定流入和培养液从生长容器的流出来维持对数期培养处于稳定状态。 用于连续培养实验的恒化器可以在数周内保持一致的生长条件，消除可能掩盖微小变化的二次生长效应，并允许在生长动力学实验中获得可靠且可重复的数据。 在如此长的时间尺度下，诸如培养基成本、培养基添加过程中保持无菌以及必要的实验数量等因素变得越来越重要。 该项目的目标是开发一种专门用于进行微尺度平行连续培养的系统，该系统简单且便宜，足以在本科实验室中使用，同时提供足以在研究实验室进行研究的精度、数据质量和控制能力。该项目旨在开发具有比一滴水还小的受控微环境的塑料微芯片，用于细胞生长研究。这些微型生命支持系统为细胞提供氧气，中和它们的废物，并确保细胞得到充足的营养。 目标是开发足够便宜的微芯片，供本科生实验室和研究使用。这些微芯片将在本科生实验室中进行测试，为本科生课程的本科生研究项目开发模块。