Microbial encapsulation in formulations and microfluidics for factory-on-a-chip applications.

在工业生物技术中，测试高通量或新工艺可能非常具有挑战性。存在对工具的巨大需求，这些工具能够在能够将不同参数用于扩展之前提供快速测试不同参数的能力。微流控技术可以完美地用于实现这些目标。该项目将研究微流控技术辅助食品配方中细菌的区隔，以控制芯片实验室中的微生物相互作用。多级微流控装置的开发将用于模拟食品加工的芯片工厂。需要在高通量的芯片实验室设备中提供多种微生物物种的配方，然而，它们的开发受到每种微生物物种所需条件的不同的挑战，配方中需要区分以避免干扰和这些系统的稳定性。不同的配方将是该项目要研究的内容之一。此外，该项目将专注于在所开发的配方中包含不同种类细菌的系统，调查细菌-细菌和细菌-基质的相互作用，并开发受控细菌释放的机制。在不同的芯片制造方法如软光刻、3D打印的同时，还将研究细菌在不同处理方法(如温度梯度)中的响应。我们将致力于开发建模工具，用于描述我们的实验室观察结果并预测未经测试的配方中的相互作用。标准化这些配方将促进微生物在芯片实验室设备中的应用。此外，低估相互作用和控制不同配方中细菌的释放，将允许扩大到工业加工，并在食品加工中利用多种微生物物种。

In industrial biotechnology, testing high throughput or new processes can be very challenging. A great demand exists for tools, which can provide the ability to rapidly test different parameters before being able to use them in upscaling. Microfluidic technology can be utilized perfectly for such goals. The project will investigate microfluidic-assisted compartmentalization of bacteria in food formulations for controlling microbial interactions, in lab-on-a-chip applications. Development of multistage microfluidic setups will be used to simulate a factory on a chip for food processes.There is need for formulations delivering multiple microbial species in high throughput lab-on-a-chip devices assisting microbiological diagnostics; however, their development is challenged by the different conditions required for each microbial species, the compartmentalization needed within the formulation to avoid interference and the stability of these systems. Different formulations will be one of the things to be investigated in the project.Moreover, the project will focus on systems containing different kind of bacteria in the developed formulations, investigating bacteria-bacteria and bacteria-matrix interactions and develop mechanisms of controlled bacterial release. Responses of bacteria in different treatments e.g. thermal gradient, will also be investigated in parallel with different fabrication methods of the chips e.g. soft lithography, 3D printing. We will aim to develop modelling tools for describing our laboratory observations and predicting interactions in untested formulations. Standardizing such formulations will advance applications of microorganisms in lab-on-a-chip devises. Furthermore, understating interactions and controlling release of bacteria in different formulations, will allow upscaling to industrial processing and utilization of multiple microbial species in food processes.