| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/R98747/01 |
| Title: |
Creating foundations for the use of robotic multi-well systems in initial assessment of cellular performance |
| Principal Investigator: |
Baganz, Dr F |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Department: |
Biochemical Engineering |
| Organisation: |
UCL |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 July 2003 |
Ends: |
30 June 2006 |
Value (£): |
311,172
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Bioprocess Engineering |
Reactor Engineering |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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The availability of the complete gene sequence for a growing number of organisms will lead to a significant increase in the number of genetically engineered strains that can be used as cellular producers of new biological materials e.g. drug candidates. There is now an urgent need to develop new fermentation methods that will allow for the selection of suitable strains and operation conditions faster and at lower costs. We propose to achieve this by a significant downsizing in scale while maintaining scalability of the process. The design of the first micro-itre prototype fermenter will be based on a detailed analysis of the engineering flow, mass and heat transfer at this scale of operation. This micro-scale fermenter will combine mechanical agitation and aeration with miniaturised probes for in-situ measurement of key process paramenters. Experiments in this reactor will establish fundamental engineering principles at the micro-litre scale. Fermentation studies with three organisms which cover the common characteristics will be performed to determine the optimal reactor design with regard to mixing and oxygen transfer and evaluate the capacity of the micro-scale reactor to provide design data for scale-up by running parallel experiments at several larger scales. The feasability of pH control and fed-batch operation will be assessed and compared with experiments at larger scale to establish the suitability of the microprobes for process monitoring and control. The micro-Iftre fermenter will provide the gold standard with which to compare automated shaken mufti-well fermentation systems. We will use the results of these comparisons to link the performance of shaken mufti-well systems to larger scale fermenters.
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Key Findings |
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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