The present disclosure provides methods and materials for the cultivation and/or propagation of a photosynthetic organism. Such methods may comprise the use of a lamp assembly that comprises a plurality of circuit boards, each comprising at least three edges, arranged in a substantially spherical shape defining an interior lamp assembly volume, wherein the plurality of circuit boards comprise a first planar surface in contact with the interior lamp assembly volume and an opposing second planar surface comprising light emitting diodes (LEDs); and a barrier that surrounds the plurality of circuit boards forming the substantially spherical shape.

Provided herein scalable system and processes for cultivation and production of photo synthetic microorganisms.

One aspect relates to a bioreactor and/or mixing container that includes an outer wall and a spectroscopy cell arranged in and/or on the outer wall. The spectroscopy cell includes a first optical area and a second optical area arranged opposite the first optical area. The first optical area and the second optical area can be set at at least two different distances from one another. A specimen-receiving area is located between the first optical area and the second optical area.

The present invention provides a cell treatment apparatus capable of treating cells in a cell culture vessel. The cell treatment apparatus 100 according to the present invention includes a first region 1, a second region 3, and a third region 5. The first region 1 and the second region 3 are placed in succession. The first region 1 is a cell treatment chamber for treating cells. The cell treatment chamber can be closed from the outside of the cell treatment chamber and includes a culture vessel placement portion for placing a cell culture vessel. The second region 3 includes: a laser irradiation device capable of irradiating the cell culture vessel placed in the culture vessel placement portion with a laser; and a spot diameter adjustment device that adjusts a spot diameter formed in a portion to be irradiated with the laser in an object to be irradiated. The third region 5 includes a control device that controls at least one device in the cell treatment apparatus 100 and a power supply device 52 that supplies electric power to at least one device in the cell treatment apparatus 100. The culture vessel placement portion is placed to be adjacent to the second region 3 in the cell treatment chamber. An adjacent portion to the second region 3 in the culture vessel placement portion is translucent.

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.

A cancer test device (1) is provided with: an application unit (40) for applying a staining agent (45), which can selectively stain a product of a cancer-relating gene in a living cell a chromatic color, onto a group of living cells; an imaging unit (10) for imaging the group of living cells having the staining agent (45) applied thereto; and a determination unit (52) for determining the level of malignancy of cancerization of the group of living cells on the basis of the state of the stained expression pattern of the cancer-relating gene in the group of living cells in an image obtained by the aforementioned imaging.

The invention relates to a bioreactor including: a light source (200); a light sensor (300) facing said light source; a vat (100) that is placed between the light source (200) and the light sensor (300), said vat being intended to receive a culture medium comprising a cellular culture of photosynthetic microorganisms; a controller (400) connected to the light sensor (300) in order to control the vat (100) to obtain a chosen cellular-culture concentration (xi) in the culture medium during a working period, said light source (200) being capable of emitting incident light (L) of an input light intensity (Iin) in the direction of the vat (100), and the light sensor (300) being capable of measuring an output light intensity (Iout) and of transmitting data relating to this intensity (Iout) to the controller for the control of the vat; and a system (500) for controlling the light source (200), this system being arranged to adjust, during a period shorter than or equal to said working period, the input light intensity (Iin) to a setpoint value allowing a cellular stress to be induced in certain at least of said photosynthetic microorganisms.

According to an aspect there is provided an illumination system for illumination of a sample in a container, such as a well of a microplate or a petri dish, the container comprising a bottom surface and side walls which together define a volume for receiving the sample, the illumination system comprising: at least one light source; a mask comprising an opaque portion, preventing light from passing through the mask, and an at least partially transparent portion, allowing light to pass through the mask; wherein the illumination system is adapted to be positioned such that the light generated by the light source, passing through the mask, illuminates the sample in the container; and wherein the light source and the mask are configured such that a shape, a size, and a position of a projection of the light passing through the mask, onto a plane of the bottom surface, match a shape, a size, and a position of the bottom surface.

A method of inducing expression of a calcium channel and/or a calcium pump in a cell includes: irradiating the cell with light in a wavelength range of 315-325 nm. The calcium channel and/or the calcium pump is/are at least one selected from the group consisting of dihydropyridine receptor (DHPR), voltage-gated calcium channel (VGCC), ryanodine receptor (RYR), and sarcoendoplasmic reticulum Ca.sup.2+-ATPase (SERCA).

A process for purifying a composition comprising water, a target substance, impurities and optionally cells, the process comprising the steps (A) and (B): (A) preparing a liquid feedstock by performing step (Ai) and/or (Aii) on the composition: (Ai) removing at least some of the cells from the composition; (Aii) concentrating the composition by removing water therefrom; and (B) passing the liquid feedstock through an apparatus comprising at least two processing units, each such unit producing a product stream containing purified target substance and optionally a waste stream comprising at least some of the impurities, wherein each unit comprises specified components (i) to (v). The units may be essentially the same except for a device they contain, leading to advantages in terms of simplicity, cost and ease of operation, lower risk of operator error, easier maintenance and lower inventory of spare parts.