Team Members
Tomas Blaquier, Gabriel Caballero, Ashley Cador, Alessandro Leggio, Rodrigo Moreno, Ava Nemanic, Tyler Oliveri, Sergio Serrano
Abstract
My Little Bioreactor is a semi-autonomous microbioreactor that prioritizes simplicity and synergy. This device was designed to be user-friendly, easy to manufacture, and simple to build and maintain, all while providing maximum functionality for a variety of cell culturing experiments. The bioreactor is composed of eight primary systems that have been consolidated to reduce the total number of components and potential failure modes. A single multi-input, multi-output selector valve is used to dispense culture fluids, gaseous commodities, and disinfection compounds to well plates and conical tubes. The valve is mounted to the XYZ gantry system, which also holds the optical density and fluorescent intensity measurement system. The optical sensing system is fully-customizable and capable of OD600measurements in conical tubes and well plates, as well as fluorescent intensity measurements of over 20 different fluorophores. The cell cultures can be temperature-controlled from 5-70 C using a conduction heat-exchanger, which sits below the well plate and contains circulating distilled water. Below the thermal plate is the shaker plate, which can shake the cultures in adjustable-diameter orbital, double orbital, and linear patterns. This is achieved using a unique system of driven kinematic linkages that can move the shaker plate on a dual-axis slide. Using one-way cross-slit silicon valves as lids for the conical tubes, gases can be injected to create a unique atmosphere while keeping all biological material contained in the tubes. Overall, My Little Bioreactor attempts to balance simplicity with wide functionality to successfully meet the needs of the UF Biofoundry.