Process for continuous inoculation of a food product, in particular a dairy product, with ferments, comprising the following steps: solid concentrated ferments are transformed into liquid concentrated ferments, the transformed concentrated ferments are continuously injected into a flow of liquid to be inoculated, characterized in that the liquid concentrated ferments are transformedby thawing frozen concentrated ferments in a temperature controlled chamber orby rehydrating freeze-dried concentrated ferments.

A fixed-bed bioreactor system for culturing cells is provided. The system includes a plurality of cell culture subunits, each cell culture subunit including a distribution plate with a major surface to support a cell culture substrate, an inlet, and a plurality of outlets disposed on the major surface and in fluid communication with the inlet. The subunit also includes a cell culture substrate disposed on the major surface of the distribution plate. The system further includes a plurality of input lines for supplying at least one of cells, cell culture media, nutrients, and reagents to the plurality of cell culture subunits, each input line of the plurality of input lines being fluidly connected to the inlet. The plurality of outlets is configured to distribute at least one of cells, cell culture media, nutrients, and reagents from the plurality of input lines substantially uniformly across the cell culture substrate.

A plate cleaning device (1) for cleaning a clamp plate of a fermenter, wherein the clamp plate has a plurality of receptacles each configured to hold a bioreactor vessel, and at least one conduit with a conduit opening per receptacle. The device comprises a plate seat member (3), a cover member (2), a plurality of valve units (4), a first fluid terminal (71), a second fluid terminal (74) and a control unit (9). The plate seat member (3) is configured to hold the clamp plate (6) in a predefined position and orientation. The cover member (2) is configured to close the plate seat member (3) such that the clamp plate (6) is tightly enclosed by the plate seat member (3) and the cover member (2). The plurality of valve units (4) is configured to be coupled to the cover member (2) such that at least one valve unit (4) is associated to each of the conduit openings (62) of the clamp plate (6). The first fluid terminal (71) is configured to receive a first fluid container and the second fluid terminal (74) to receive a second fluid container. The cover member (2) is equipped with channels each having a first open end and a second open end. Each of the first open ends of the channels of the cover member (2) is positioned to be connected to one of the conduit openings (62) of the clamp plate (6). The valve units (4) are configured to be coupled to the second open ends of the channels of the plate such that all of the at least one conduit openings (62) per receptacle are associated to one valve (4). The first fluid terminal (71) and the second fluid terminal (74) are coupled to each of the valve units (4). The control unit (9) is configured to selectively connect the first fluid terminal (71) and the second fluid terminal (74) to the second open ends of the channels of the cover member (2).

A transfection device suitable for delivery of various macrostructures (e.g., mitochondria, bacteria, liposomes) is described and uses mechanical force to thereby induce active endocytosis in a target cell. Contemplated devices are able to achieve high throughput of transfected cells that remain viable and are capable of producing colonies.

Devices, methods and systems are described for providing controlled amounts of gas, gas pressure and vacuum to microfluidic devices the culturing of cells under flow conditions.

An apparatus 100 for cultivating bacteria, comprising a conduit 101 having an upstream and a downstream section and the downstream section of the conduit 101 comprising first Venturi eductor means 111 with at least two inlet ports 117, 118 wherein one of said inlet ports 117 is in fluid communication with a supply of nutrient and another one of said inlet ports 118 is in fluid communication with a supply of bacteria such that, in use, nutrient and bacteria are drawn into said Venturi eductor means 111 by a fluid passing along said conduit 101 and said Venturi eductor means 111.

Since a drive unit is disposed in a body of a switching valve included in a suction-discharge device in the related art and a sample flows in the body of the switching valve, a treatment, such as autoclave sterilization, could not be performed. For this reason, a contamination cause, such as bacteria, could not be completely removed. Since a switching valve of the invention is formed of a mechanism for blocking tubes by pressing the tubes, in which a sample flows, from the outside, a contamination cause, such as bacteria, is not spread to the switching valve. Further, tubes and a syringe pump, which are installed on a suction-discharge device of the invention, form an assembly that can be easily replaced even though contamination is generated.

The present invention relates to a method for synthesizing an RNA molecule of a given sequence, comprising the step of determining the fraction (1) for each of the four nucleotides G, A, C and U in said RNA molecule, and the step of synthesizing said RNA molecule by in vitro transcription in a sequence-optimized reaction mix, wherein said sequence-optimized reaction mix comprises the four ribonucleoside triphosphates GTP, ATP, CTP and UTP, wherein the fraction (2) of each of the four ribonucleoside triphosphates in the sequence-optimized reaction mix corresponds to the fraction (1) of the respective nucleotide in said RNA molecule, a buffer, a DNA template, and an RNA polymerase. Further, the present invention relates to a bioreactor (1) for synthesizing RNA molecules of a given sequence, the bioreactor (1) having a reaction module (2) for carrying out in vitro RNA transcription reactions in a sequence-optimized reaction mix, a capture module (3) for temporarily capturing the transcribed RNA molecules, and a control module (4) for controlling the infeed of components of the sequence-optimized reaction mix into the reaction module (2), wherein the reaction module (2) comprises a filtration membrane (21) for separating nucleotides from the reaction mix, and the control of the infeed of components of the sequence-optimized reaction mix by the control module (4) is based on a measured concentration of separated nucleotides.

A microfluidic device for determining a response of cells comprises a microchannel and a seeding channel. The microchannel is at least partially defined by a porous membrane having cells adhered thereto. The microchannel has a first cross-sectional area. The seeding channel delivers a working fluid to the cells within the microchannel. The seeding channel has a second cross-sectional area that is less than the first cross-sectional area such that a flow of the working fluid produces a substantially higher shear force within the seeding channel to inhibit the attachment of cells within the seeding channel. And when multiple seeding channels are used to deliver fluids to multiple microchannels that define an active cellular layer across the membrane, the seeding channels are spatially offset from each other such that fluid communication between the fluids occurs only at the active region via the membrane, not at the seeding channels.

Disclosed herein is a bioreactor system that allows active perfusive flow through a porous support medium enabling 3D growth of biological samples. In some embodiments, the system comprises a sample well filled with a three-dimensional (3D) cell growth medium. The system can further comprise a liquid medium reservoir fluidly connected to the sample well by a first filter material. The system can further comprises a medium collection chamber fluidly connected to the sample well by a second filter material. In some embodiments, application of negative gage pressure to the medium collection chamber or positive pressure to the liquid medium reservoir draws fluid from the liquid medium reservoir, through the first filter material, into the sample well where it permeates the three-dimensional cell growth medium, through the second filter material, and finally into the medium collection chamber.