An imaging system and method for microbial growth detection, counting or identification. One colony may be contrasted in an image that is not optimal for another type of colony. The system and method provides contrast from all available material through space (spatial differences), time (differences appearing over time for a given capture condition) and color space transformation using image input information over time to assess whether microbial growth has occurred for a given sample.

An observation system includes an illumination unit including a light source from which emits an illumination light including light of a plurality of colors, and light receiving unit including an optical sensor which acquires a light intensity. The illumination unit emits the illumination light for a culture vessel so that the illumination light travels from a first side to a second side of the culture vessel, the first side and the second side being defined by interposing a culture medium. The light receiving unit receives, on the first side, light emitted from the illumination unit, entering the culture vessel from the first side, reflected at the second side, and transmitted through the culture medium, and acquires a light intensity for each color in the received light for calculation of a pH value of the culture medium.

A cell culture container may include an inlet through which a fluid is supplied, an outlet through which a fluid is discharged, and a flow path configured to connect the inlet to the outlet and accommodate a cell culture substrate containing gold nanoparticles and capable of being denatured by heating.

Disclosures of the present invention describe a method and device for stimulating biological fermentation. In the present invention, a light source is particularly used for stimulating a biological fermentation by supplying an illumination light with a color temperature in a range between 1600K and 4300K. Moreover, a variety of experimental data have proved that, the illumination light is indeed helpful in stimulating the biological fermentation occurring in an object under fermentation so as to enhance a rate of ethanol fermentation. It is worth further explaining that, the method and the device for stimulating biological fermentation can be applied in any one type of fermentation apparatus.

An optofluidic photoreactor including an optical waveguide having an input, characterized by an evanescent optical field confined along an outer surface of the optical waveguide produced by radiation propagating in the optical waveguide, means for inputting light to the input of the optical waveguide, and a photoactive material disposed substantially only within the evanescent field. A method for optically activating a photoactive material in an optofluidic photoreactor to convert carbon dioxide and water into other molecules that may be useful as a fuel or a chemical feedstock.

The invention relates to a method for the simultaneous heterotrophic and mixotrophic cultivation of microalgae, to a system for the simultaneous heterotrophic and mixotrophic cultivation of microalgae and to the use of the method and/or the system for the cultivation of microalgae.

An integrated process for the cultivation of algae or plants and the contemporaneous production of electric energy using a system in which a luminescent solar concentrator having a photovoltaic cell positioned on an outer side thereof is interposed between a cultivation area and a radiation source, totally or partially covering the cultivation area. The electric energy recovered from the photovoltaic cell is used in the cultivation of the algae or plants.

The invention relates to a bioreactor comprising a tank containing a culture medium in which a cell culture composed of algae cells is dispersed. The cell culture of algae has a concentration greater than 0.1 g/L in the culture medium, and each algal cell has a minimum absorption in a specific range of wavelengths of light. The bioreactor comprises a light source that is capable of emitting incident light in the direction of the tank, 60% of the photons of the incident light having a wavelength which is included in said specific range of wavelengths of light. The invention also relates to the use of the bioreactor for the production of biomass.

An observation system includes an observation apparatus including a housing having an arrangement surface for placement of a sample, the sample including a culture medium, and an external illumination unit which is disposed outside the housing and includes at least one light source configured to emit illumination light. At least a part of the arrangement surface is formed of a transparent member having an optically transparent property. The observation apparatus includes an imaging unit which is provided in the housing and includes an image sensor configured to image, via the transparent member, the sample illuminated by the illumination light from the external illumination unit to acquire images of at least three colors.

An imaging system and method for microbial growth detection, counting or identification. One colony may be contrasted in an image that is not optimal for another type of colony. The system and method provides contrast from all available material through space (spatial differences), time (differences appearing over time for a given capture condition) and color space transformation using image input information over time to assess whether microbial growth has occurred for a given sample.