Thursday, November 1, 2007

Day 4 - Let's Do Some Inspection.. Inoculation, Fermentation and Monitoring II

Objective


  • To monitor cell growth and product formation through manual sampling and computer data logging.

Our history plot of the major operational parameters of our fermenter..

Seems complicated eh? Actually it's quite simple..

The pH of the broth remains constant at about 7.5. This neutral pH is needed for the cells to grow normally, as a pH too acidic or alkaline will kill the cells.

The temperature is also kept constant at 32°C, where the optimal GFP folding and fluorescence takes place. The turquoise line indicates the PO2 concentration in the fermenter.

We can see that there is a sharp decrease in the PO2 concentration in the first 2½ hours. This is because the cells are growing and PO2 is taken in by the cells. At the 18th hour, the PO2 concentration starts to increase sharply because the cells stop growing, which is indicative of the stationary phase. Then it continues to the death phase. (aww.. R.I.P cells.. =/)

The stirred speed is dependent on the amount of PO2 added.

That's all about the history plot! =D

Here are the 2 clips that we took today...

No comments: