New Bioreactor System Streamlines Strain Screening and Culture

Biotechnology laboratories working with bacterial cultures will benefit from a new automated micro bioreactor system that was designed to enhance microbial strain screening processes.

The Sartorius Stedim Biotech (Aubagne, France) new ambr 15 fermentation system comprises 24 single-use stirred micro-bioreactors (each with an 8 to 12 milliliter working volume) integrated with a user-friendly, automated workstation.


The system, which is based on Sartorius' gold-standard ambr 15 micro-bioreactor technology, offers parallel processing and walk-away control of 24 micro-bioreactors. These features provide the researcher with efficient, consistent results from an enhanced early stage screening platform.

The ambr 15 system was designed to deliver high oxygen transfer rates, rapid pH and feed additions, and is ideally suited for assessing the effects of different strains of microbial cultures. The instrument measures pH and dissolved oxygen every 12 seconds, and computer controlled pumps feed liquid lines for base and nutrient addition to each micro bioreactor.

Each single-use micro bioreactor vessel contains an impeller suitable for fermentation and provides enhanced capability compared to shaking culture systems. Since the ambr 15 vessels are single-use and are supplied sterile, cleaning and sterilization are eliminated, which decreases turnaround times between runs.

Dr. Barney Zoro, ambr product manager at Sartorius Stedim Biotech said, “Scientists have been trying to model microbial fermentation and screen microbial strains using shake plates and flasks but these devices are poor early stage models as they are not able to achieve representative cell densities, and do not allow monitoring and control of pH or dissolved oxygen. With these issues in mind, we developed ambr 15 fermentation and have data showing system consistency, repeatability, and predictive selection of strains. This demonstrates that the system is an excellent tool for enhanced screening applications, and we are confident that fermentation scientists will significantly reduce their time and resource demands when performing enhanced microbial strain selection studies using an ambr 15 fermentation system.”

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