A bioreactor includes a culture medium vessel housing culture medium. The culture medium vessel further includes a first side surface including a first transparent optical window; and a second side surface parallel to the first surface and including one or more sensor adapters to fix optical sensors. A cell retention vessel is disposed underneath and connected to the culture medium vessel, the cell retention vessel housing biological cells and having: a top surface that intersects a base of the culture medium vessel, and a second transparent optical window indented into the top surface at a first corner of the top surface. A semipermeable membrane is disposed at a bottom of the cell retention vessel, and a frame comprising a grid is disposed underneath the semipermeable membrane.

A method and apparatus for locating and selecting a colony of microorganisms on a culture dish and identifying microorganisms in said selected colony using MALDI. The method comprises the automated steps of locating and selecting a colony of microorganisms on a culture dish; obtaining a sample of said selected colony of microorganisms; depositing at least some of said sample of said selected colony of microorganisms on a target plate; and transferring said target plate with said sample in an apparatus for performing MALDI for identification of said sample of said selected colony of microorganisms. A sample of a colony of microorganisms is automatically deposited on a depositing spot such that the sample covers at most approximately half of said one of the depositing spots of the target plate. A suspension of a sample of microorganisms is automatically prepared by automatically picking the sample with a picking tool and submerging the picking tool with said sample in a suspension, after which the picking tool is vibrated in vertical sense only to release the sample from the picking tool.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a method including receiving, from a user interface on a display device of a computing apparatus, a dilution profile that includes a plurality of profile fields relating to a series of test instances for a plurality of culture devices. The method includes storing the dilution profile in a memory of a computing apparatus. The method includes receiving a request to form a worklist for reading the culture device. The worklist comprises a plurality of worklist fields that correspond to at least some of the plurality of profile fields in the dilution profile. The method includes determining that the dilution profile applies to the worklist and populating, responsive to the determination that the dilution profile applies and by the computing apparatus, at least some of the plurality of worklist fields with the plurality of profile fields in the dilution profile from the memory.

A system comprising a respirator, a biochip, and an atomizer for studying respiratory pathogens. The respirator of the system is configured to create breathe-mimicking air movement, the biochip comprises an airway lumen in fluid communication with the respirator, and the atomizer is in fluid communication with the airway lumen of the biochip, according to various embodiments. The atomizer may be configured to generate droplets of a respiratory pathogen (e.g., from liquid inoculum). In various embodiments, the breath-mimicking air movement comprises air volume as a function of time, wherein the respirator is configured to generate breathing cycles.

A filter that includes a filter base portion having a first main surface and a second main surface opposite to the first main surface, the filter base portion defining multiple first through-holes and one or multiple second through-holes penetrating between the first main surface and the second main surface, the one or multiple second through-holes being larger in size than the multiple first through-holes. The filter base portion having a first region on a center side of a filter, a second region on an outer periphery side of the filter relative to the first region, and a third region between the second region and an outer periphery of the filter. The one or multiple second through-holes are in the second region, and a ratio of an opening area of the one or multiple second through-holes is less than a ratio of an opening area of the multiple first through-holes.

A magnetic-field generator (10) is provided to be used in construction of a cell sheet (12), and include s a magnetic circuit assembly (24) configured to generate a magnetic field for the construction of the cell sheet (12) using magnetic force caused by the magnetic field wherein the magnetic force is substantially transverse to a plane defined by the cell sheet (12), and a power control system (44) configured to generate and control electric power to magnetically charge the magnetic circuit assembly (24) using the electric power.

A liquid filtration system comprising a syringe pump comprising a gas chamber and a movable plunger, wherein the gas chamber has an aperture at a first end and the plunger forms a seal within the internal walls of the chamber; a liquid chamber having two openings, the openings positioned at opposite ends of the chamber and the first opening connected to the aperture of the gas chamber; a bioreactor in fluidic communication with the second opening of the liquid chamber; a filter arranged to filter liquid passing between the bioreactor and the liquid chamber, the filter comprising a permeate outlet for removing filtered liquid; wherein, in use, the plunger may be moved in a reciprocating motion causing a corresponding movement of gas which drives liquid alternately between the liquid chamber and the bioreactor such that liquid passes through the filter and filtered liquid may be removed via the permeate outlet.

In an illustrative embodiment, automated multi-module cell editing instruments are provided to automate multiple edits into nucleic acid sequences inside one or more cells.

A system and method for converting food waste and other biologically-derived waste materials into nutrients for an algal growth system using worms to produce such nutrients is described. In one embodiment, a method for converting food waste into nutrients for an algal growth system using worms includes providing food waste to a container including a plurality of worms. The method also includes collecting castings from the food waste processed by the plurality of worms. The method further includes providing a wash to the container. The wash causes the castings to move to a bottom portion of the container adjacent to a moveable screen. The method includes actuating the moveable screen so that the castings pass through a plurality of holes in the moveable screen. The method also includes providing the passed castings to an algal growth system.

A method of detection of a status of cells within a cell culture is described. The method is based on comparing an IR spectrum of a test sample obtained from the cell culture with an IR spectrum of a control sample or samples or with an IR spectrum of a sample or samples obtained at an earlier time point in the cell culture and correlating differences between the spectra with the status of the cells. The status may be classified into healthy or unhealthy. The test sample may or may not contain cells. The test sample may contain cell fragments, cell components or cell media, or may be cell supernatant. The comparison may be performed using a predictive model based on pattern recognition algorithms, such as support vector machines SVM, linear discriminant analysis LDA, principal component discriminant function analysis PC-DFA, neural networks, or random forests). The analysis results may be used to monitor and/or control the cell culturing process.