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Monitoring in E. coli

Monitoring in yeast

Bioprocess control and monitoring

back to Quantitative monitoring of gene expression

     Process control and monitoring in biotechnology industry is always a great concern and interest.  In a bioprocess, the primary objective has been to convert inexpensive carbon (or other substrate) to a high-value product that can not be readily synthesized in vitro.  However, the ability to affect intracellular machinery by the means of mutant isolation, strain development and genetic manipulation, has far exceeds the best available techniques for monitoring/controlling extracellular parameters.  This problem is primary due to the lack of technology/tool available to obtain meaningful information in near real time.  Most of the measurements/methods are specific for each situation and are difficult to be adapted to other conditions. 
     For the past few decades, process control and monitoring has been mostly carried out using parameters such as OD, pH, dissolved oxygen level, off-gas concentrations and substrate concentrations.  However, most of them are difficult to monitor on-line and none of them reflects the real-time changes inside the cells.  Recombinant protein, which is the product of interest for most of bioprocesses, has never been monitored on-line and in real time because protein analysis and even enzyme analysis is always time-consuming and mostly not available on-line.