Exploring biomass based feeding in shake flasks

by Dr. Sina Schmidl, Product Marketer, Scientific Bioprocessing (sbi)

Automation of bioprocesses becomes more and more important with a growing market of products and the widespread desire to accelerate the transfer from development stages to production of biobased products. While large-scale production with microorganisms is mostly carried out in voluminous bioreactors up to thousands of liters, experiments in the development stage are preferably carried out in shake flasks. This vessel type bears a lot of advantages in comparison to bioreactors, as e.g., lower costs per experiment and a faster setup, a flexible scalability (several conditions can be tested at once), and an easy integration into the laboratory environment.

So far, however, a major disadvantage is the limited sensing and control options in comparison to bioreactors. Automated feeding of substrates, an operation mode that is routinely carried out in bioreactors for many years already, is only now becoming more and more frequent on a shake flask level due to advancing technologies.

Recent developments have now led to the availability of a brand-new application called biomass-based feeding in shake flasks. Biomass-based feeding describes the feeding of a substance to a growing microbial culture, initiated by the reach of a certain biomass level or cell density. This automated substance release offers advanced control options for shake flasks and is enabled by the interconnectivity of a reliable biomass monitoring system, a state-of-the-art automated feeding system, and a powerful software provided by the DOTS platform by sbi, Scientific Bioprocessing Inc.

By using biomass as the determinator of substrate injection, many less studied processes will benefit as the feeding can be fine-tuned to the culture requirements without having to know its growth pattern.

Furthermore, biomass-based feeding is an important asset in the ongoing process of automatizing shake flask experiments. It enables the imitation of bioreactor-like conditions, improving the transferability of results from shake flasks to bioreactor scales.

In conclusion, this application marks a milestone in the efforts of lab automation in a high-impact vessel type and is an important step moving towards the smart shake flask of the future.

If you want to learn more about biomass-based feeding, visit the application page: https://www.scientificbio.com/biomass-based-feeding-in-shake-flasks

Sina Schmidl is a knowledgeable scientist with a PhD in Molecular Biology. During her PhD studies, Sina’s experience in yeast genetics and microbiology allowed her to drive innovation and make significant contributions to the field. Following her success in the laboratory, Sina has taken her skills and expertise to the biotech industry, where she now works as a product marketer for sbi, a company that provides cutting-edge sensor technologies for bioprocessing. In her current role, Sina leverages her scientific knowledge to understand the needs of customers and find solutions that meet their unique requirements.