Open Source Bioreactor

The Project

History

http://univalle.epfl.ch/

List of contributors

Project Coordinators

Pr. Luc Patiny, ISIC EPFL-UNIL, Lausanne, CH
Pr. Julien Wist, DARMN Research Group, Univalle, Cali, CO
Pr. Janeth Sanabria, GAOX Research Group, Univalle, Cali, CO
Quentin Cabrol, MSc Micro and Nanosystems EPFL

Current Collaborators, on Oct 2016

Clément Chenevas, Life Science Student EPFL : operation of Bioreactor v3 @ Univalle
Alice Leydier, Life Science Student EPFL : operation of Bioreactor v3 @ Univalle
Daniel Kostro, ISIC EPFL-UNIL, Lausanne, CH Michael Zasso, ISIC EPFL-UNIL, Lausanne, CH

Past Collaborators Emilien Mingard
Eric Marco Schukraft
(1 more ?) David Lambalet
Samuel Benketaf
Raffael Tschui Gabriel Laupré Gael Grosch Oliver Peric

Add project contacts here with roles in the project.

Concept

This project is a collaboration between Univalle (Universidad Del Valle - Colombia) and EPFL (Polytechnical school of Lausanne - Switzerland). The goal was to build an Open Source Bioreactor that everyone could assemble and use, from their backyard to the universities around the world.

This Bioreactor can be used for many applications, such as growing bacterias in anaerobic conditions, with an automatised interface. The temperature, pH, weight, conductometry, feeding and flow of gas going in the reactor can be controlled. All the parameters are stored in a card for future use and can be changed or viewed remotely.

Once the Bioreactor is build, all you have to do is choose the conditions of your experiment (pH, temperature, time of sedimentation, flow of gas), and the Bioreactor will do the rest for you !

Central Unit

User Manual

This Bioreactor is based on the use of parameters that can either be read or changed. The parameters that can be read are the ph, temperature, weight, gas flow and conductometry. Depending on the needs of the experiment, the user can change the target pH and temperature of the solution, as well as the desired gas flow, the time of sedimentation and the level of emptying and filling of the Bioreactor.

Extension Modules

pH regulation and conductometry

The Bioreactor contains an optional pH board, that can be used with a standard gel probe containing reference electrode and a BNC/RCA (Cinch) 2-Wires output. You can choose to regulate or not the pH of your solution, by changing the pH state. In order to regulate the pH, the target pH should be set and solutions of acid and base should be prepared.

Another board can be added for the measure of the conductometry.

Dynamic gas Mix

The Anemometer board addresses the need to control the bioreactor atmosphere. It dispose of 4 flow measurement channels to dynamically analyze the input and output flows of gas in the reactor. It allows to obtain a desired mix out gas bottles with pure content (CH4, N2, CO2,...) and potentially to operate the system in anaerobic conditions by ensuring a constant overpressure. Though it, of course, requires a bit more of material both electronic and fluidic.

External Resources

Media

Cali Summer Internships 2014 : http://univalle.epfl.ch/page-111363.html
Collaboration EPFL - Univalle, CODEV : http://univalle.epfl.ch/
Bioreactor Isobar : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM8Rpxd9WJg
Bioreactor V3.0 2014 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sCRF4vdtTM

For Developers

Github Bioreactor V3 (soon to be abandoned):
Github Bioreactor V4 (in development 30.11.2016):
Extensive Developer Manual (in development 30.11.2016):