In modern biotech manufacturing, it is now common to produce a wide range of proteins using genetically manipulated microorganisms or animal cells. However, the efficiency of traditional, small-scale laboratory production systems (i.e. shaking flasks, T-bottles or spinner flasks) has been limited because oxygen input is low and pH levels cannot be controlled. Also, standard bioreactors and fermentors historically have had a relatively high initial investment cost, especially those with in-built control of temperature, agitation speed, dissolved oxygen, pH and foam or level in a reactor vessel.
Sartorius has introduced Biostat Aplus, a range of compact, autoclaveable bioreactor/fermentor systems with working volumes of up to 5 liters. These systems are affordable to users with limited budgets, which has been facilitated by transferring the controlling Human-Machine Interface to a standard notebook PC. This concept has the additional benefit of enabling the user to operate the system and transfer measured data to an additionally installed MFCS/DA SCADA software package for further evaluation.
Further cost savings have been realized by developing application-specific configurations for both microbial and animal cell cultivation. These configurations are available with a choice of 1-, 2- or 5-liter working volume vessels as well as optional add-ons and weight measurement. Each system is supplied with detailed information guides describing recommended experimental conditions, media composition, controller set points, etc. for the most commonly encountered expressions systems.