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Regarding suitability of Eppendorf bioprocess equipment in GMP-regulated applications, please reach out to your Eppendorf sales representative.

What is a Bioreactor?

What is a bioreactor?

Bioreactors are vessels used to culture cells or microorganisms under tightly controlled conditions to provide optimal productivity, efficiency, and product quality. These vessels can be used to culture various types of animal and human cells. However, they’re also commonly used for the fermentation of microbes such as bacteria and yeast. Scientists who cultivate bacteria, yeast, or other fungi often use the term fermentor.

Bioreactors are useful for a wide range of applications at various scales of production. Continue reading to find out how the use of bioreactors can optimize your cell or microbial culture. Learn about the different components, cell types and applications suitable for bioreactor systems and receive expert advice on how to get started.

Why should you consider using a bioreactor?

There are several benefits to culturing cells in bioreactors, compared to cultivating them in flasks or plates in shakers or incubators. Bioreactors are particularly useful to:

Produce large quantities of cells‌

Decrease batch-to-batch variability‌

Find the best culture conditions‌

Shakers/incubators and bioreactors

If you are using bioreactors, you will probably use a shaker or incubator as well for early research and process development and inoculum preparation. This means, it depends on the application and the workflow stage, which cultivation system is the better choice.

  • Get an overview on the strengths and weaknesses of shakers/incubators and bioreactors and at which workflow step the one or the other is particularly useful. Read more!
  • Interested in an example? Read, how one of our customers optimized protein production in E. coli. Shake flasks were used at the beginning to optimize a range of process parameters. Subsequently, bioreactors have enabled a significant increase in productivity. Download case study!

Shaker and bioreactor

What are the main components of a bioreactor?

Here we focus on stirred-tank bioreactors, which are the most common type of bioreactor. Cultivation takes place in the cylindrical bioreactor tank - often called a vessel. The culture is mixed by stirring using an impeller. Bioreactors are connected to a bioreactor control system for effective parameter monitoring and control. In addition to the bioreactor itself, bioreactor systems contain:

  • Sensors: These monitor key process parameters, including pH, dissolved oxygen and temperature continuously in real-time. Various types of sensors can be integrated into bioreactors.
  • Control software: Based on sensor readings, the software calculates the adjustments to the system that are required to maintain parameter levels within their specified setpoint.
  • Actuators: Regulated by the control software, actuators can be pumps, valves, or motors, that adjust the parameter back to its specified setpoint.

Components of a bioreactor

Which cell types can be cultured in bioreactors?

A broad range of cell types can be cultured in bioreactors, including:

Organisms, which can be cultivated in bioreactors

What are typical application areas for bioreactors?

Bioreactors are typically used in life science and pharma field, for food and feed applicatons, and bio-based chemicals production. Find out more about the use of bioreactors in the different application areas.

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Life science and pharma‌

Food and feed‌

Chemicals‌

Which scales of production can bioreactors be used for?

Stirred-tank bioreactors are suitable for each stage of bioprocessing from small scale to production. Typically, we distinguish
  • 100 mL range - small scale: Working volumes around 100 mL are typically used in R&D.
  • Liter range - bench-scale: Working volumes of several liters are typically used for process development, during scale-up, and also for production processes.
  • Hundreds of liters range - production-scale: Large-scale, commercial production often takes place in working volumes of hundreds or thousands of liters.

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Considering using bioreactor systems for your bioprocess?

Here’s how to get started.

What you need to know before investing in a bioprocessing space in your lab:

There are important considerations to make when purchasing your first bioreactor. Get to know about the necessary lab infrastructure and about useful additional equipment like incubators and analyzers.

Contact us to select the right equipment

It can be challenging to pick the ideal bioprocess system for your needs. The right system to choose will depend on several factors: The organism being cultivated, the working volume and the cell line used, with particular regard to the oxygen demand and sensitivity to shear forces. We are specialists with extensive application experience and are happy to advise. Contact us for more information on Eppendorf bioprocessing solutions!