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Integrated microbioreactor for culture and analysis of bacteria, algae and yeast

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Abstract

We introduce a micro-scale bioreactor for automated culture and density analysis of microorganisms. The microbioreactor is powered by digital microfluidics (DMF) and because it is used with bacteria, algae and yeast, we call it the BAY microbioreactor. Previous miniaturized bioreactors have relied on microchannels which often require valves, mixers and complex optical systems. In contrast, the BAY microbioreactor is capable of culturing microorganisms in distinct droplets on a format compatible with conventional bench-top analyzers without the use of valves, mixers or pumps. Bacteria, algae and yeast were grown for up to 5 days with automated semi-continuous mixing and temperature control. Cell densities were determined by measuring absorbances through transparent regions of the devices, and growth profiles were shown to be comparable to those generated in conventional, macro-scale systems. Cell growth and density measurements were integrated in the microbioreactor with a fluorescent viability assay and transformation of bacteria with a fluorescent reporter gene. These results suggest that DMF may be a useful new tool in automated culture and analysis of microorganisms for a wide range of applications.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. Kevin Truong (Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, IBBME, University of Toronto) for generously donating E. coli and plasmid DNA, Prof. Igor Stagjlar (Department of Medical Genetics and Microbiology, University of Toronto) for generously donating S. cerevisiae and Prof. William Ryu (Department of Physics, University of Toronto) for the use of the cold room. We also thank Evan Mills (IBBME, University of Toronto) and Dawn Edmonds (Department of Medical Genetics and Microbiology, University of Toronto) for their assistance with bacterial transformation and yeast culture. We thank Kamlesh D. Patel and Pam Lane (Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA) for discussion and assistance with algae culture. We thank the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for financial support. SHA and SCCS thank NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council) for graduate fellowships, and ARW thanks CRC for a Canada Research Chair.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, 164 College St., Toronto, ON, M5S 3G9, Canada

    Sam H. Au, Steve C. C. Shih & Aaron R. Wheeler

  2. Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, 160 College St., Toronto, ON, M5S 3E1, Canada

    Sam H. Au, Steve C. C. Shih & Aaron R. Wheeler

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St George St., Toronto, ON, M5S 3H6, Canada

    Aaron R. Wheeler

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  1. Sam H. Au
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Correspondence to Aaron R. Wheeler.

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Sam H. Au and Steve C. C. Shih contributed equally

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Au, S.H., Shih, S.C.C. & Wheeler, A.R. Integrated microbioreactor for culture and analysis of bacteria, algae and yeast. Biomed Microdevices 13, 41–50 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-010-9469-3

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