0000000000787819
AUTHOR
Hauke Harms
Chip calorimetry for the monitoring of whole cell biotransformation
Abstract Efficient control of whole cell biotransformation requires quantitative real-time information about the thermodynamics and kinetics of growth and product formation. Heat production contains such information, but its technical application is restricted due to the high price of calorimetric devices, the difficulty of integrating them into existing bioprocesses and the slow response times of established microcalorimeters. A new generation of chip or nanocalorimeters may overcome these weaknesses. We thus tested a highly sensitive chip calorimeter for its applicability in biotechnological monitoring. It was used to monitor aerobic growth of suspended and immobilized Escherichia coli DH…
Real time analysis of Escherichia coli biofilms using calorimetry
Abstract Microbial communities grow more stably when they are associated to surfaces or organized in aggregates. This advantage of biofilms is technically exploited for the degradation of xenobiotics or in biocatalysis, where the fixed biomass has the added advantage of easier separation of excreted products. Whereas the biothermodynamic analysis of growth and product formation of suspended cells is developing fast, there are only few reports on the calorimetric analysis and biothermodynamic interpretation of biofilm evolution. Experiments illustrate the ability of calorimetry to monitor the physiological state of biofilms in real time. Sessile cells of Escherichia coli DH5α DSM 6897 were s…