A nanoliter microfluidic serial dilution bioreactor

Abstract

Bacterial culture is a basic technique in both fundamental and applied microbiology. The excessive reagent consumption and laborious maintenance of bulk bioreactors for microbial culture have prompted the development of miniaturized on-chip bioreactors. With the minimal choice of two compartments (N ¼ 2) and discrete time, periodic dilution steps, we realize a microfluidic bioreactor that mimics macroscopic serial dilution transfer culture. This device supports automated, long-term microbial cultures with a nanoliter-scale working volume and real-time monitoring of microbial populations at single-cell resolution. Because of the high surface-to-volume ratio, the device also operates as an effective biofilm-flow reactor to support cogrowth of planktonic and biofilm populations. We expect that such devices will open opportunities in many fields of microbiology. V C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

Review of Microfluidic Photobioreactor Technology for Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology of Cyanobacteria and Microalgae

“…Before reviewing the microfluidic photobioreactor, we noticed that the majority of the work on microfluidic cultivation has involved non-photosynthetic bacteria. Extensive efforts have been made to design microfluidic bioreactors for non-photosynthetic microbial cultivation [ 24 ] and cell culture [ 25 ] in the form of microchemostats [ 26 , 27 , 28 ], serial dilution bioreactors [ 29 ], flow-based chemostats [ 30 , 31 , 32 ], biofilm flow reactors [ 33 , 34 , 35 ], and droplet reactors [ 36 ]. Here, we review microfluidic photobioreactors and separate them according to different platform technology.…”

Manipulating nanoliter fluid circuits on an all-glass chip by the magnetic field

“…This technology may be used to upgrade the microfluidic network combined with the microelectrode array 46 to a multi-level microcirculatory network, upgrade the two-phase contact extraction of droplet nanoliter fluid 47 to a high-efficiency microcirculatory two-phase extraction, and upgrade the unidirectional flow tube reactor 48 to a microreactor with controllable microcirculation. Not only that, the single cells 49 captured in the nanoliter cavity can be cultured and tested in situ during microcirculation; microdroplets 50 or microdroplet arrays 51 can be directly used in conjunction with microcirculation reactors; peristaltic pump bioreactors 52 can be transformed into microcirculatory programmed reactors. In addition, nanoliter blood 53 can be used with microcirculation technology to realize trace multi-parameter automatic testing; the in vivo slow release of drugs 54 will learn programmed and precise control.…”

Microfluidic Technology for the Generation of Cell Spheroids and Their Applications

“…This technology allows mixing and encapsulating of cells in a single droplet, which is protected by an immiscible liquid phase. With a high surface area to volume ratio, the microdroplets serve as a unique microbioreactors for a high-yield formation of spheroids [ 17 ]. Biomaterials such as polymers and colloid particles were used as the supporting substrate [ 18 ].…”