Novel applications of bioreactors
Shake, rattle, and roll: growing bones in rotating bioreactors
In our youth, most of us take healthy bones and joints for granted (with the exception of the occasional sports injury, perhaps). Yet as we age, the risk of being affected by a degenerative skeletal tissue disorder increases significantly - especially so for women. The increasing incidence of costly surgical procedures associated with injuries resulting from these conditions is driving interest in improved technologies for the engineering of bone and cartilage tissue for use as viable grafts. [More]
Count your bioreactors before they hatch: recombinant proteins from chicken eggs
What came first - the transgenic chicken or the recombinant protein-containing egg? In this case the answer is clear. The next time you pick up a carton of eggs in the supermarket, consider how much each egg would be worth if half of the egg white (about 1 gram) consisted of a recombinant human protein destined for use as a biotherapeutic. It is for this reason that hens have long been viewed as potential bioreactors. [More]
Do-it-yourself biopharmaceutical production: engineering low-cost bioreactors
To produce sufficient amounts of recombinant proteins from mammalian cells, cell cultures need to be increased in scale. Inevitably, this involves the scaling up of costs as well, sometimes significantly so. Although several methods are available for performing large-volume cell culture, such as bioreactors, most of these are too expensive for many laboratory operations. A recent report describes a novel bioreactor that may represent a cost-effective alternative for small and/or academic laboratories wishing to scale up production of their favorite biomolecule in an affordable manner. [More]
