MPD basics
The bridge between biology and manufacturing
Microbial process development is an activity within bioprocess engineering. Microbial process development results in a Bioprocess that, in turn, results in a Bioproduct.
Components in microbial process development
Microbial process development is a complex activity that consists of several components. Below, we give a brief (and incomplete) overview.
Strain development
Selection or engineering of a microbial host. E.g., E. coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, etc. This includes genetic modifications such as:
Pathway insertion or optimization
Knockouts to reduce byproducts
Promoter tuning for expression control
Media and growth optimization
Designing nutrient composition. E.g., carbon, nitrogen, trace elements.
Controlling process parameters. E.g., pH, temperature, oxygen transfer.
Feeding strategy
Batch, fed-batch, or continuous cultivation strategies. Feeding profiles. E.g., glucose-limited feeding to avoid overflow metabolism.
Bioreactor configuration and mixing.
Scaling
Scale from lab to pilot to production facilities. In practice, to transition from shake flasks to bench-top bioreactors to industrial fermenters.
While scaling, you must address several new challenges. E.g., oxygen transfer limitations, shear stress, heat removal.
Monitoring
Understand what's going during the bioprocess.
OD (optical density)
pH
DO (dissolved oxygen)
Metabolites
Plate counts (CFU)
BactoBox® (cells/mL)
etc.
Downstream considerations
This is a huge topic on its own. The basics are:
Bioproduct isolation (recovery)
Bioproduct concentration, purification, dehydration, etc.
Last updated
Was this helpful?