Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia.
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2020 Jun 8;6(6):3630-3637. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c00292. Epub 2020 May 14.
Droplet microfluidics creates new opportunities for microbial engineering. Most microbial cultivations are carried out in bioreactors, which are usually bulky and consume a large amount of reagents and media. In this paper, we propose a microfluidic droplet-based microbioreactor for microbial cultivation. A microfluidic device was designed and fabricated to produce many droplet-based microbioreactors integrated with an AC electric field for the manipulation of these microbioreactors. Droplets encapsulating fluorescent cells were generated, sorted, and trapped individually in small chambers. Fluorescence intensity was monitored to determine cell growth. An electric field with varying voltages and frequencies manipulates the droplets, simulating an oscillation effect. Initial results showed that electric field does not affect cell growth. A comparison with shake flask showed that a similar standard growth curve is obtained when cultivating at room temperature. This device has the potential for making droplet-based microbioreactors an alternative for microbial engineering research.
液滴微流控为微生物工程创造了新的机会。大多数微生物培养都是在生物反应器中进行的，而生物反应器通常体积庞大，消耗大量的试剂和培养基。在本文中，我们提出了一种基于液滴的微生物微流控培养系统用于微生物培养。设计并制造了一种微流控装置，以产生许多基于液滴的微生物培养室，并集成了交流电场来操作这些微生物培养室。荧光细胞的液滴被生成、分拣并单独捕获在小室中。监测荧光强度以确定细胞生长。不同电压和频率的电场可以操纵液滴，模拟振荡效果。初步结果表明电场不会影响细胞生长。与摇瓶的比较表明，在室温下培养时可以获得相似的标准生长曲线。该装置有望使基于液滴的微生物培养室成为微生物工程研究的替代方法。
