1.Higher yield
Improving work efficiency is the main reason for the shift from shaking bottles to bioreactors, where you can typically obtain more total biomass or specific product production from cells in a shorter amount of time. For example, the results of cultivating K12 Escherichia coli in shaking bottles and bioreactors are significantly different for the wild-type.
2. Real time biological process information
Due to the fact that bioreactors rely on microcomputers to directly control various parameter information, and can achieve real-time transmission of plasma cell growth status, dissolved oxygen parameters, DO values, conductivity, etc. through various sensors, real-time process control cannot be achieved during shake flask cultivation. The following is a comparison with typical cultivation parameters in bioreactors:
Although shaking bottles with third-party devices can do more, cost, handling, and interoperability issues all contribute to becoming niche solutions for specific applications and environments.
3. Adaptability
One major difference between shaking bottles and bioreactors is that the use of bioreactors improves adaptability. This is not just about the number of individual parameters that can be measured and controlled. The quality and range of measured values, as well as the ability to control them, are often more restricted in shaking bottles. Usually, the control of key parameters such as temperature is applied simultaneously to all shaking bottles. For many filtering applications, this may not be important, but it is a problem for optimization research.
4. Better biological control
This is a key factor in the value of transitioning from shaking bottles to bioreactors. This can be achieved by using phased strategies provided by biological process software to control individual parameters or complete process control. Shaking bottles can achieve some useful control strategies, but they are either limited in scope or require additional equipment.
5. Expand possibilities
Due to the sharp increase in production over the past decade, a small amount of culture can contain high cell density or product concentration. This makes shaking bottle culture a feasible option for small-scale production in early applications. However, in the expected expansion to commercial levels, small-scale bioreactors can establish the correct standards and provide a solid foundation. This is due to simple physical similarity and the quality of available information, namely:
Stirring stage reactors (STR's) are still a common form of production scale bioreactors, and laboratory scale bioreactors can better mimic this. For example, key amplification standards such as impeller tip speed and volume mass transfer are related to bioreactors, but not directly related to shaking flasks. The control strategy and optimization of small-scale bioreactors can usually be applied on a larger scale through simple proportional changes.
In summary, although bioreactors are sometimes considered too complex, expensive, and time-consuming. But in bioreactors, various indicators can be accurately controlled, and even EKF lactate analyzer can be used for real-time analysis and detection of lactate generated during cell culture to ensure a good cell growth environment.
If you want to increase the cultivation density, expand the scale of cell culture, and scale up the process, using a desktop bioreactor will be your correct choice.