The present disclosure relates to approaches for assessing a sample or the presence of microorganisms. The sample, in certain implementations may be assessed for one or both of absence of microorganisms (sterility) and/or for concentration of said organisms (bio-burden). sample partition device may be employed that partitions the sample input volume into multiple discrete measurement zones with little or no loss of sample (e.g., zero-loss) and with little operator involvement, thereby reducing operator- and environment-based false positives.

A bioproduction mixer control system includes a mixing compartment having a biological fluid and a mixing element; a sensor in communication with the mixing compartment, the sensor configured to detect an environmental condition within the mixing compartment; and an integrated control unit. The integrated control unit includes a memory for storing the environmental condition, sensor information relating to the sensor, and process workflow information; a user interface comprising a display depicting a bioproduction workspace, wherein the bioproduction workspace comprises a process workflow title and a plurality of bioprocess modules; and a central processing unit in electronic communication with the sensor, memory and user interface.

The invention relates to a method for in vitro characterization of a eukaryote biological microtissue by imaging by means of a phase measurement technique without a reference beam, and the use of this method in vitro characterization in particular for: monitoring the quality of a microtissue, measuring the increase of the biomass of a microtissue during its growth and/or its amplification following the differentiation and/or the organization of a microtissue during its maturation, determining the phenotype of cells of the microtissue, and/or confirming the absence of non-differentiated cells in the microtissue.

Disclosed herein is an instrument suitable for processing cells for example culturing, concentrating or washing said cells, the instrument comprising: a housing for accommodating mechanical elements including at least one fluid pump; and a disposable processing kit complementary to the mechanical elements within the housing and comprising a fluid circuit including a fluid reservoir and plural fluid paths capable of carrying fluid flow caused by said pump(s), the instrument further including a mechanism for determining the quantity, or change in quantity of the fluid in the reservoir resulting from said fluid flow, the instrument yet further comprising a controller operable to control at least the pump and operable to perform a fault determination process, which includes the steps of determining the expected flow rate of said pump(s) calculated from the speed of the pump(s) and comparing that expected flow with the change in quantity of the fluid in the reservoir as determined by said mechanism.

The invention relates to a fermenter vessel (1) of a biogas plant, having at least one height-adjustable agitator (8), wherein the agitator (8), in the fermenter vessel (1), is guided with a guide element (17) on a guide rail (9) oriented approximately vertically in a vertical axis direction and is held in height-adjustable fashion by means of a traction cable (10). According to the invention, a traction force measuring device (22; 25) is provided for directly and/or indirectly measuring the traction force on the traction cable (10) in accordance with a cable tension, such that, by means of the traction force measuring device (22; 25), in the case of a preferably controlled height adjustment of the agitator (8), varying traction force measurement signals are generated in accordance with varying traction forces and are supplied to an evaluation device (20).

Settling or settler devices for separating particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields. The devices include inclined sliders with an arcuate cross-section arranged in a space within a bioreactor. These devices are useful for separating small (millimeter or micron sized) particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields, such as biological (microbial, mammalian, plant, insect or algal) cell cultures, solid catalyst particle separation from a liquid or gas and wastewater treatment, organic and aqueous phase emulsion separations, or the like.

A fluidic cartridge comprises a fluidic disk having a plurality of alignment openings; a fluidic chip comprising a body, one or more channels formed in the body in fluidic communications with input ports and output ports for transferring one or more fluids between the input ports and the output ports, and a plurality of protrusions formed on the body and received in the alignment openings of the fluidic disk for aligning the fluidic chip to the fluidic disk; an actuator operably engaging with the one or more channels for selectively and individually transferring the one or more fluids through the one or more channels from at least one of the input ports to at least one of the output ports at desired flow rates; and a tube member defining a cylindrical housing for accommodating the fluidic disk, the fluidic chip and the actuator therein.

The apparatuses described herein relate to preparation of a meat product. Apparatuses, systems comprising the apparatuses, and methods of making and use the systems and apparatuses are described herein. These are useful for controlling one or more of growth on and separation of a meat product from an enclosed substrate. The apparatuses and systems are configured to receive fluid and grow the meat product and/or separate the meat product from the substrate in a scalable manner.

A platform for testing cell response to biochemical agents. The TrophoWell™ includes a well which contains a gel, and a plurality of capillaries that open into it. Cells and various biochemical agents such as drugs and growth factors are flown through those capillaries. The platform allows for the evaluation of cell response by imaging. The platform is a cost effective testing platform and can be used in the fields for drug discovery and personalized medicine.

A deepwater photobioreactor system including a vertical stack extending between an ocean surface and an ocean floor. The vertical stack includes an inlet conduit and an outlet conduit where the inlet conduit is arranged to transport at least seawater and the outlet conduit is arranged to transport at least a biomass. The system includes a first photobioreactor in fluid communication with the inlet conduit and the outlet conduit that is connected to the vertical stack via the inlet and outlet conduits at a first position along the vertical stack below the ocean surface. The first bioreactor is arranged to cultivate the biomass. The system also includes a mooring system arranged to anchor the vertical stack to the ocean floor and arranged to receive the biomass via the outlet conduit and output the biomass to a harvest pipeline.