References

Austria

Validogen
Raaba-Grambach
Aid Atlic

"BioLector Pro is a highly valuable addition to our lab equipment. It is a powerful and userfriendly device that allows for rapid assessment of strain behaviour and performance under various cultivation conditions. Its high throughput helps us leverage the diversity of our protein production technology using yeast host Pichia pastoris. The distinctive BioLector Pro feature for us is the continuous feeding. This, together with oxygen enrichment and Flowerplates with pH range suitable for yeast growth, allows us to carry out high cell density fed-batch cultivations. The obtained results are reliable and predictive for strain performance in the bioreactor. Using BioLector Pro we can generate an ample amount of data in a few days’ time, which aids our process development from microscale cultivation to fermentation and speeds up process optimisation. The excellent communication with the customer and technical service at m2p-labs needs to be emphasized as well. The staff is professional, skilful and friendly and promptly responded whenever we required assistance." 

→ Validogen

BIOMIN Holding GmbH
Tulln
Dr. Artur Schuller

"Already during my dissertation, the BioLector II served me as a very helpful, high-throughput screening tool for the development of new E. coli expression systems. Compared to conventional shake flasks or deepwell cultivations, we were able to gain numerous new insights into gene expression through online monitoring of fluorescence, biomass, pH and DO. Now, as a Scientist in the BioProcess Development Team at BIOMIN, we have the opportunity to go one step further with the BioLector Pro. By actively controlling the feed rate and the pH value, we are able to screen bioprocess engineering parameters in the microliter scale, which can then be transferred, very reliably, to larger scales. This approach is not only used for E. coli but also for P. pastoris, probiotics and filamentous fungi. Furthermore, the standardized microtiter plates prove to be very useful, as cells can be separated very efficiently in conventional centrifuges or can simply be transferred to another microtiter format using multi-channel pipettes in order to carry out further analyzes. Finally, I would like to highlight the excellent support from m2p. Whether by e-mail, phone or in person, customer support is very professional and issues are dealt with quickly, so that there are never any longer downtimes of the BioLector Pro."

→ Biomin

Belgium

Eurogentec
Seraing
Nathalie Pirlot, Laurent Jost

"As Senior Scientists in the New Technologies Development department of Eurogentec, we have been intensively working with the BioLector for several years and we are entirely satisfied by the acquisition. This easy-to-use micro-fermentation system - that permits to conduct many conditions in parallel (genetically modified strains and/or medium composition) while monitoring different parameters online - helped us develop a complete expression platform using Pichia pastoris as a host for heterologous protein production. The one milliliter cultivation volume perfectly fits in with clone evaluation in terms of growth and expression profile right after the selection of the recombinant cells on plates, which is a huge gain of time. The whole system (strains-vectors-BioLector) can be used at research level as well as in process transfer and development of customer’s projects, allowing money and time saving. Finally, we greatly appreciated m2p-labs responsiveness (when help was needed) and qualified technical assistance. We found this equipment very reliable and had no issue with it."

→ Eurogentec

Denmark

DTU Technical University of Denmark
Lyngby
Dr. Ali Altıntaş

"I have been working with BioLector almost for 4 years and it was always such a great data we generated with it due to its high-throughput functionality. The ease of operation, experimental setup and light scattering based growth measurements makes BioLector one of the best micro-fermentation platforms in the market. During these 4 years, m2p-labs have always been so supportive that my orders were delivered fast and we had an awesome technical support. What I mostly like is that I got a quick response from m2p-labs whenever I needed their urgent help. For these reasons, I am really glad to work with m2p-labs (and BioLector, surely) and I believe they are a great example how a company should deal with their customers."

→ DTU

Finland

VTT Technical Research Center of Finland
Espoo
Tino Koponen and Kiira Vuoristo

"BioLector Pro and II have been a great addition to VTT’s high throughput strain screening and fermentation process automation platform. They have turned out to be easy to use and an excellent way to evaluate strain up scaling potential before larger scale tests. We have successfully implemented BioLector protocols for bacteria, yeasts, filamentous fungi and plant cells, and used aerobic, anaerobic, batch and fed-batch processes. In addition to a spectrum of organisms, BioLectors have been suitable for several types of end-products such as organic acids, proteins and enzymes. The generated data, especially biomass and dissolved oxygen, has been valuable and benefited the process development of our customers in food, feed and pharma industries. It has been a pleasure to work with m2p-labs as their customer service has been professional and always responded to our questions promptly. All in all we are really happy to have BioLectors in our lab and look forward pursuing new innovations by using them!"

→ VTT

France

Université de Lille, Team ProBioGEM
Villeneuve d'Ascq
François COUTTE, Ph.D.

"We work with the Biolector for 2 years and this micro-fermentation system in parallel has clearly revolutionized the way we work and define our experiments.
Easy to use, results reproducibility and its friendly computer interface make the Biolector a powerful tool for the screening of bacterial and yeast strains, optimization of the medium composition and of the culture conditions. The online measurements of biomass growth, pH, dissolved oxygen and fluorescens have allowed us to deepen our knowledge of our models strains with an unexpected speed. 

In addition, technical assistance of the m2p-labs and their availability has always been faultless. In conclusion, we are so pleased with this system that we have planned to purchase the Pro version."

→ Lille University

Germany

DECHEMA-Forschungsinstitut
Frankfurt am Main
B. Sc. Ina Huth

"The BioLector has become an essential part of our everyday laboratory life. We use it for a wide range of applications and due to its robustness and compact design it can be easily transported as well. The moisture control function allows us to perform miniaturized long-term cultivations without the regular losses caused by evaporation. This is indispensable for fungi and other slow-growing organisms. The on-line monitoring of data on pH, biomass and oxygen supply is a helpful tool for the comprehension of cultivation processes. In summary, the BioLector, supplemented by the friendly and competent service of m2p-labs, is a modern, reliable and easy-to-use microfermentation system."

→ DECHEMA

FH Bielefeld, WG Fermentation and Formulation of Biologicals and Chemicals
Bielefeld
Dr. sc. agr. Rieke Lohse

"In 2013, I ran into the fully-automated microbioreactor system from m2p-labs at a conference and I was instantly impressed from the RoboLector with an integrated BioLector Pro.
Because it is essential to investigate how culture conditions affect biomass or (secondary) metabolite production. The current practice to understand the influence of culture conditions from microorganisms on the production biomass as well as metabolites is still cost and time intensive. The fully-automated RoboLector allows 48 parallel batch or 32 fed-batch cultivations in a volume under 1 mL, which saves us a lot of time and money. Furthermore, the options to control shaking speed, temperature, pH and humidity during the cultivation combined with the non-invasive detection of pO2, biomass and product concentration accelerates the process to achieve optimal product yields enormously.

Afterwards, the knowledge gained from the fermentations on microscale facilitates the scale-up to an in vitro mass production process in a stirred tank reactor. Two years after the first meeting, the novel microbioreactor system was granted within the framework of “FHInvest2014” by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as well as the Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of North Rhine Westphalia (FKZ 03FH016IN4). Now, we are very happy that the RoboLector finally arrived in our lab in 2016.

Finally, I would like to mention that the support from m2p-labs is continuously available, very competent, always friendly and helpful."

→ FH Bielefeld

Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ)
Jülich
Dr. Simon Unthan

"We have continuously used the BioLector for years and are fully persuaded about this device. The results obtained are highly reproducible and the online analytics of parallel cultivation allows the rapid response to basic questions of the daily laboratory work. We are also very satisfied with the fast and competent support by the m2p-labs team."

→ FZ-Jülich

Hochschule Darmstadt, University of Applied Sciences
Darmstadt
Ms. Tina Uhlmer

"In my Bachelor Thesis it was the first time I worked with the BioLector – and I was immediately enthused! No more need of time-consuming and inconvenient cultures in shaking flasks for my tests! It was such an enormous saving of time because I could do numerous experiments simultaneously. The measurement of O.D. (biomass), pH and oxygen concentration was completely automatic - and thanks to the online monitoring I could control the progress of my experiments constantly.

Moreover I needed so little amounts of medium that the costs of my tests were reduced seriously! The analysis of the measured data was facilitated immensely by the software BioLection – and when I though had a question the pleasant m2p labs support team helped my with a fast and competent answer! The BioLector is a very beneficial and user friendly micro reactor that affords high throughput experiments as well as time saving and reducing costs at once!"

→ HS Darmstadt

Hochschule Trier, Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld, Institut für biotechnisches Prozessdesign (IBioPD)
Trier
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Percy Kampeis

"The RoboLector enables us to optimize fermentation media fast and cost-effective. The combination of media preparation and parallel fermentations in microtiter plates is a useful tool in the development of new biotechnical processes."

→ HS Trier

KIT Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Biomolecular Separation Engineering Group
Karlsruhe
Dr.-Ing. Pascal Baumann

"The BioLector was the central cultivation equipment during my doctoral thesis and became a standard tool for optimizing bacterial product formation in our academic group. The reproducibility of data and the easy way of scaling up microbial culture conditions makes the technology outstanding in the upstream sector. The vast number of screening possibilities enabled the generation of different cell lysates for a deeper lysate characterization. The BioLector has proven to be highly valuable for our institute and even enabled an integrated optimization of up- and downstream. m2p-labs having been part of our project team is always a friendly, competent and reliable partner."

→ KIT

Hong Kong

City University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Dr. Patrick Kwan Hon Lee

“The Biolector system has been a powerful tool to understand bacterial response to different medium and environmental conditions in real time. The oxygen control is fast and accurate while the real-time biomass, fluorescent, and dissolved oxygen data are accurate to the minutes. Moreover, the support team has been wonderful. Delivery was fast and technical support are always professional and helpful. Overall, we are so glad to install this system in our lab and we look forward in continuing our partnership with m2p-labs for years to come.”

Poland

Bionanopark
Lodz
Dr. Krzysztof Makowski

"We have bought BioLector as a first company in Poland. At the beginning, we were full of doubts about its precision and repetitiveness. After few internal and commercial cultures we are pretty sure it was a good decision. Apart from previously mentioned features, time and media savings were other key points for us and our customers when we were looking for a system for parallel fermentations.

Easy to operate interface, data acquisition and presentation mode is a great advantage. From our point of view it is very useful tool for optimization of media composition, especially that results obtained in BioLector are almost identical with results obtained in a classical bioreactor systems. It is just the beginning of our adventure with BioLector and we are still looking for more fields of its application."

→ Bionanopark

Switzerland

Evolva AG
Reinach
Jannick Imbach and Thomas Tange

"We have two BioLectors at Evolva and they are an invaluable tool in helping us characterize our strains. We have used the BioLectors to monitor dissolved oxygen and pH of our cultures in real time, which has provided us with valuable information on how our strains grow and respond to stress. We have also done screening of regulatory genetic elements using the BioLector system, which has given us valuable insights for metabolic engineering. Another important aspect is the support that m2p-labs provides. At some point we ran into an issue with a Peltier element; we contacted m2p-labs and they replied within a day and called us to walk us through some troubleshooting steps till we determined that it needed to be sent for repair. Also here m2p-labs was a great support, they arranged pick-up and all the paperwork to get the unit shipped and returned to us. This level of support has continued throughout all our interactions with m2p-labs."

→ Evolva

ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Facility Management, Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology
Wädenswil
Cedric Schirmer

"We, at the Centre for Biochemical Engineering and Cell Cultivation Techniques, have had a BioLector in our laboratories at the ZHAW since 2012. In recent years, it has been used for various research projects, including process development for MRSA antibodies and virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine process development, media optimization for CHO cell-based antibody production, media and production screening for the development of chemically defined media as well as for projects with insect cells. The BioLector, which has proven particularly useful for high-throughput fermentations with online monitoring of biomass, pH and dissolved oxygen (DO), was also used in 2020 for the process development for a bacterially produced COVID-19 vaccine based on VLPs. Thus, using design of experiments (DoE), different clones and media, cultivation and production parameters could be tested and evaluated during a relatively short time. This allowed for a rapid scale-up to pilot scale by first considering the evaluated critical parameters via the BioLector, then via shake flasks and the ambr250 benchtop bioreactor system. During this time m2p-labs supported us, as in previous years with advice as well as rapid supply of equipment, allowing us to successfully finalize our projects."

Thailand

BIOTEC (National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Dr. Kocharin Kanokarn

"We have used the RoboLector and BioLector Pro system to facilitate the bioprocess development on several industrial microbe projects. Due to the automated liquid handling system and the real-time growth characteristic measurements of parallel fermentations, lesser time and lesser materials were required to obtain the biological data compared to the traditional shake flask cultivation. At present, we use the system mainly for fermentation process optimization using DOE, characterization on engineering industrial microbe. 

In addition, the technical support team at m2p-labs is excellent whenever the urgent help is needed. Right now, the RoboLector and BioLector Pro system has become an essential tool to do research in our microbial cell factory research team."

→ BIOTEC

United Kingdom

Biocatalysts Ltd.
Cardiff
Mark Blight

"Fermentation process development is a key requisite to Biocatalysts enzyme production platforms for the development of robust and reproducible fermentations of a variety of microbial organisms and recombinant expression systems. The process development for one of our major customer products was achieved through a large number of 1 to 3L fermentations over a period of about 18 months. We tested the Biolector shortly after this process was developed. The same process parameters were investigated in a series of two Flowerplate experiments, combined with DoE data analysis. Within 2 weeks we had identified the same key process parameters that we had achieved in 18 months with more traditional approaches.

Since then, and after purchasing the system, Biocatalysts Ltd. has used the Biolector on multiple customer and strategic projects requiring fermentation process development. These projects include media development, key fermentation parameter identification and refinement, strain selection and clonal screening. Data acquisition, interpretation and reproducibility have been extremely consistent and in one case we achieved scale-up from a 1 mL Flowerplate experiment to a 50L fermentation with consistent product yield. The equipment has proved to be reliable and robust in the 3 years we have been operating the unit.

The customer support from m2p-labs has been exemplary and professional. The introduction of the Biolector into fermentation process development at Biocatalysts Ltd. has significantly increased both reproducibility and experimental turnaround and reduced overall process development time and cost. This equipment has become a key part of our technology platform and in one customer project, was decisive in obtaining the contract."

→ Biocatalysts

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories
Cambridge
Neil Triggs

"My team and I have been using the RoboLector system supported by m2p-labs for over a year. We selected the RoboLector system because it offered the best package of technology to increase our fermentation process development capability. Since the Robolector installation it has proven its worth assisting fermentation scientists, molecular biologists and chemists to increase experimental throughput significantly and generate better quality data. Automated precision sampling and feeding of controlled 48-well microbial culture has enabled us to achieve many project milestones significantly quicker than anticipated.

The RoboLector has allowed us to build complex statistical (DoE) models, including screening designs and optimisation designs for media development and early stage parameter development with ease, and such have been successfully scaled into stirred tank reactors with minimal adjustment. The use of the RoboLector online data monitoring of pH, DO, Biomass, productivity (GFP, RFP detection) and analysis software has provided better data than orbital shaking culture and so has significantly reduced routine flask work. The disposable technology means quick set-up and no clean-down times for fermentation.

The technical support from m2p-labs has been high quality and customer focussed. This technology would be useful to anyone wishing to increase their fermentation development capability and general data quality for all mandatory microbial cultivation within a small footprint."

→ Dr. Reddy's

UCL University College London, BahlerLab Genome Regulation
London
Jürg Bähler

"We have used the BioLector in our laboratory for over 4 years now, and this instrument has served us exceedingly well. It is easy to use, versatile and provides accurate, reproducible results. In no time, the BioLector has become a trusted and favourite ‘gatchet’, much used by almost everyone in the group. We have published results from BioLector experiments in 5 papers already, with more in the pipeline. The level of support and service we are receiving from m2p-labs is also very impressive. So we are very happy with the BioLector, and gladly recommend this gem of German engineering."

→ UCL Bahler Lab

USA

Conagen Inc.
Bedford, MA 0173
Matt Mattozzi

“Our BioLector is a fantastic instrument: it tells us what’s happening in many cultures in parallel, real-time, and automated.  We can try up to 48 media or genetic conditions and get a rich data set unparalleled by any other instrument.  It played an important role in optimizing production conditions for our RebM and other steviol glycoside products.

The Flower Plate is a brilliant invention.  Its baffles imitate air sparging in bioreactors, and allow us to correlate our BioLector results with those at benchtop and commercial scale volumes.  It helped a lot in developing some products with high oxygen demands such as our lactones line.”

→ Conagen

Duke University
Durham, NC
Ashley Trahan

"I have used the BioLector Basic from m2p-labs for the last year, and the instrument has more than met our expectations for high throughput strain evaluations. Our lab evaluates a diverse set of strains for the bioproduction of 30+ products, and the BioLector is central to learning and understanding this wide range of microbial systems. I find that the instrument and accessories are smartly designed, easy to understand and navigate, and use thorough and thoughtful software for both experimental design and data analysis. The customer and technical support is excellent, ranging from consultation with one of the founding scientists to competent applications and customer service staff. The BioLector has become an essential tool for our lab, and expansion and diversification using m2p-labs products in definitely in our future!"

→ Duke

DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences
Palo Alto, CA
Kirstin Crotty, Amanda Hildebrand

"The BioLector Pro uniquely blends high throughput microtiter plates with the sophistication of a bioreactor. Its intuitive, thoughtful, and versatile design allows for swift adoption into a variety of programs and applications. Results are robust, reproducible, and scalable, and the high throughput format has allowed us to achieve goals that would otherwise prove impractical. The added functionality of the Pro version of the BioLector technology allows for more data-rich experiments and a higher level of control over reaction parameters.  Additionally, the technical team at m2p-labs, Inc. is excellent to work with. They are readily available when needed, provide high quality, detailed responses to our questions, and have even provided real-time troubleshooting for the instrument. Conversations with the technical team always yield new ideas for consideration. We are excited about unlocking even more potential through our continued exploration with the BioLector Pro."

→ DuPont

Joyn Bio
Boston, MA
Kelly S. Smith, Ph.D.

"At Joyn Bio we have the advantage of high throughput synthetic biology to develop new strains, thanks to our partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks.  The BioLector [microbioreactor] allows us to screen a much higher number of early stage synbio strains in fermentation than we could with any other type of fermenter, as well as allowing us to easily monitor the progress of the fermentations and collect the data for later analysis.  The flower plates and other unique design elements have allowed us to work with strains that require efficient oxygen transfer as well as strains that do better under lower oxygen conditions.  The team at m2p-labs (Beckman Coulter) has been with us at each step and has been great to work with as far as installation and training.  We've invested in more BioLector microbioreactors now that our programs are expanding and we look forward to a long partnership with their team."

→ Joyn Bio

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
Kristala L. Jones Prather, Irene M. Brockman, Christopher R. Reisch

"The BioLector has been a useful tool both for process optimization and for E. coli strain design in our laboratory. On the bioprocess side, we have screened media formulations in order to develop media compositions limited in specific nutrients. The automatic OD monitoring in the BioLector saves labor and allows us to closely monitor growth patterns such as diauxic shifts that may be less apparent with infrequent sampling. We have also found the BioLector valuable for monitoring of small-molecule production and screening of promoter and RBS libraries during strain development. We see high consistency in production titers in the BioLector in E. coli, and also good sensitivity when monitoring GFP production from test constructs."

→ MIT

 

Seres Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA
Ricardo Miguel Duarte

"At Seres Therapeutics, I face the exciting challenge of working with strict anaerobic organisms which have never been cultivated before and/or are novel bacterial species. In early 2016, I evaluated and implemented the BioLector system within my lab to better understand the (un)culturable microbial world. Since then, the BioLector technology proved to be a great tool for microbial anaerobic applications and an effective platform to support process development, characterisation and optimisation. In addition, this high-throughput microbioreactor system delivers robust, high-yield, predictable, and scalable microbial fermentation processes for live biotherapeutic products.

Overall, m2p-labs is a great partner to collaborate with. They provide qualified technical assistance and training and are always available to discuss challenges and develop innovative and tailored solutions."

 → Seres Therapeutics