Microfluidic Bioreactor forSingle Cell Analysis

A novel type of single-cell bioreactor was successfully engineered within an interdisciplinary project conducted at the IBG-1. A stamp sized disposable microchip was fabricated containing up to several hundred sub-micrometer sized bioreactors each having a cultivation volume of only one picoliter. This high parallelization enables future high-throughput single cell analysis of industrially relevant  microorganisms over long time periods under well controllable laminar flow environments. A precise but cost efficient and fast fabrication process allows for innovation cycles of few weeks only.

Applying high resolution and automated time-lapse microscopy IBG-1 researchers were able to follow the growth and productivity of various industrially applied production strains on single cell level over several hours and days. Interestingly it appeared that growth rate of the applied C. Glutamicum strain was significant higher that compared to typical cultivation methods. This is most likely due to the constant environmental conditions, continuous media transport and waste removal. In direct competition with a 1-liter bioreactor cultivation to study different growth phenotypes of C. Glutamicum DM1800, the microfluidic system saved more than 100 hours of experimental time, thus making it an ideal system to perform multiple and elaborate experiments. With genetically incorporated fluorescence based sensors even time dependant cell phenomena were investigated. In future similar devices will be utilized at the IBG-1 to answer complex research question in the field of Systems Biology and Biotechnology.

The results were recently published in the journal Lab-on-a-Chip of the Royal Society of Chemistry and are online available under:

For further information please contact:

Dr. Dietrich Kohlheyer

E.-Mail: d.kohlheyer@fz-juelich.de