The invention provides a hydrogel network comprising a plurality of hydrogel objects, wherein each of said hydrogel objects comprises: a hydrogel body, and an outer layer of amphipathic molecules, on at least part of the surface of the hydrogel body, wherein each of said hydrogel objects contacts another of said hydrogel objects to form an interface between the contacting hydrogel objects. A process for producing the hydrogel networks is also provided. The invention also provides an electrochemical circuit and a hydrogel component for mechanical devices comprising a hydrogel network. Various uses of the hydrogel network are also described, including their use in synthetic biology and as components in electrochemical circuits and mechanical devices.

This invention relates to a capacitor comprising two electrical conductors separated by a dielectric, the dielectric comprising microorganisms. The dielectric may comprise a biological indicator. This invention relates to a process for determining whether the microorganisms are alive or dead. The number of microorganisms can be determined. This invention relates to a process for testing the efficacy of a sterilization process using the capacitor.

Method and system to analyze biomasses in a bioreactor (3) via a computer (2) with a system software (5), the bioreactor (3) having at least one sensor (6) to measure the biomasses and which has a data connection to the computer (2) managed by a data interface provided by the system software (5), wherein the system software (5) provides a data conversion model (8) to analyze real time raw data about permittivity measured by and transmitted from the at least one sensor (6) to the computer (2) to calculate specific cell parameters of cells in the biomasses.

The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, and systems to measure one or more electrical signals from a cultured cell layer. In some embodiments, such electrical signals can be indicative of transport or lack of transport of an agent through the cell layer.