Integrated microbioreactor arrays for high-throughput experimentation

Bioprocesses with microbial cells play an important role in producing biopharmaceuticals such as human insulin and human growth hormone, and other products such as amino acids and biopolymers. Because bioprocesses involve the complicated interaction between the genetics of the microorganisms and their chemical and environmental conditions, hundreds or thousands of microbial growth experiments are necessary for to develop and optimize them. In addition, efforts to develop models for bioprocesses also require numerous growth experiments to study microorganism phenotypes. This work describes the design and development of integrated arrays of microbioreactors that can provide the oxygen transfer and control capabilities of a stirred tank bioreactor in a high-throughput format. The devices comprise a novel peristaltic oxygenating mixer and microfluidic injectors, which are fabricated using a process that allows combining multiple scale (100/,m-lcm) and multiple depth (100/im-2mm) structures in a single mold.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Lee, Harry, 1976-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Rajeev J. Ram.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37908

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37908