In one example in accordance with the present disclosure, a cell analysis system is described. The cell analysis system includes a substrate. Formed in the substrate is a feedback-controlled lysis system to rupture a cell membrane. The feed-back-controlled lysis system includes at least one lysing chamber to receive a single cell to be lysed. A lysing element of the feedback-controlled lysis system agitates the single cell and a sensor detects a state within the lysing chamber. The cell analysis system also includes a microfluidic channel formed in the substrate to 1) serially feed individual cells from a volume of cells to the feedback-controlled lysis system and 2) deliver a lysate of a ruptured cell to at least one analysis chamber. The cell analysis system also includes at least one analysis chamber formed in the substrate to process the lysate and a controller to determine when a cell membrane has ruptured.

Processes and systems for recovering products from a fermentation mash. In some examples, a process for recovering products from a fermentation mash can include processing a ground corn product to produce a fermentation mash that can include ethanol. At least a portion of the ethanol can be separated from the fermentation mash to produce a whole stillage. The whole stillage can be separated to produce a fiber rich product and a filtrate. The fiber rich product can be hydrolyzed to produce a saccharification mash. The saccharification mash can be processed to produce additional ethanol and a stillage protein product.

A kit comprises: (i) one or a plurality of collection containers, each comprising a cap and, attached to the cap, an applicator, wherein the applicator is configured to fit within the collection container when closed by the cap; (ii) an aqueous fluid comprising a nucleic acid preservative; and (iii) solid particles adapted for lysing cells, such as bacteria, by bead beating. Upon receipt in a facility, the contains are placed onto a bead beating instrument without aliquoting samples from the collection container into another in bead beating container, or adding solid particles for bead beating.

A method for improving a cell biomass includes de-ashing the cell biomass by applying pulsed electric field (PEF)- or constant electric field (CEF)-treatment to the cell biomass in a solvent, optionally under pressure higher than the ambient pressure, to thereby extract an ash fraction from the cell biomass into the solvent.

The present invention addresses the problem of providing a bubble ejection method based on a new principle that is different from conventional bubble ejection methods and a bubble ejecting device.

To solve the problem, provided is a bubble ejection method using a bubble ejecting device, wherein the bubble ejecting device comprises a substrate formed of a dielectric, at least one bubble ejection hole formed so as to penetrate through a first face and a second face, which is a face opposite to the first face, of the substrate, a first opening formed at a position of the first face at which the bubble ejection hole penetrates, and a second opening formed at a position of the second face at which the bubble ejection hole penetrates, the bubble ejection method comprising: a substrate-conductive liquid contact step; a conductive liquid-electrode contact step; a voltage application step; and a bubble ejection step.

Methods and apparatus for the selection or processing of particles sensitive to the application of an external stimulus to rupture/lysis at least one selected particle or the fusion of first and second selected particles are disclosed herein. Particles are organized using a first field of force by selectively energizing electrodes of an array of selectable electrodes having dimensions comparable to or smaller than those of the particles. A first configuration of stresses is applied to the electrodes; and then a second configuration of stresses is applied to the electrodes, so as to create a second field of force, located substantially close to at least one selected particle to be lysated or to a pair of first and second particles to be fused and such as to produce the application of a stimulus suited to produce their lysis or fusion.

The invention relates to the use of microjet reactor for processing biomass. The cell lysis of flowable biomass is thereby carried out by means of multiple high-speed liquid jets which collide with one another, wherein the liquid jets contain the cells or consist wholly of the flowable cell mass, wherein intact or wholly or partially lysed biomass is added to at least one of the colliding high-speed liquid jets, and an extraction takes place simultaneously with the collision of the liquid jets or subsequently thereto. The lysis of the cells is initiated or facilitated by the forces that occur on acceleration, introduction of the acceleration, collision of the jets and mixing of the jet constituents.

A trans-disciplinary system for cell-free biosynthesis includes a cell-free transcription-translation (TX-TL) tool and modular, generalizable microfluidic architectures. Both components of the system are independently functional and are combinable into a cell-free biosynthesis platform. In the first component, modular plasmid libraries are used to program bacterial cell-free TX-TL systems. Each plasmid holds one gene or operon, and all the genes are controlled by the same promoter, so that the stoichiometry of enzyme synthesis is determined by the stoichiometry of plasmids in the reaction. In the second part, in order to facilitate high throughput mixing and matching of gene units from the modular plasmid libraries, a modular, reconfigurable, flexible, and scalable microfluidic architecture is employed. The microfluidic modules share common form factors and port/valve locations, so that a small set of module types, with multiple instances of each type interconnected in different geometries, allows simple reconfiguration to achieve different modes of operation.

Processes and systems for recovering products from a fermentation mash. In some examples, a process for recovering products from a fermentation mash can include processing a ground corn product to produce a fermentation mash that can include ethanol. At least a portion of the ethanol can be separated from the fermentation mash to produce a whole stillage. The whole stillage can be separated to produce a fiber rich product and a filtrate. The fiber rich product can be hydrolyzed to produce a saccharification mash. The saccharification mash can be processed to produce additional ethanol and a stillage protein product.

Described herein is a device and method for translocating a protein through a nanopore and monitoring electronic changes caused by different amino acids in the protein. The device comprises a nanopore in a membrane, an amplifier for providing a voltage between the cis side and trans side of the membrane, and an NTP driven unfoldase which processed the protein to be translocated. The exemplified unfoldase is the ClpX unfoldase from E. coli.