NMR SENSORS FOR BIOREACTOR DIAGNOSTICS

MONITORING THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT OF BIOCHEMICAL REACTION VESSELS IS CRUCIAL TO OPTIMIZING THE PERFORMANCE OF EXISTINGBIOREACTORS WHICH, IN TURN, CAN AID IN THE DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF FUTURE BIOREACTORS. THIS PROJECT PROPOSES TO NON-INVASIVELY MONITOR FLUID FLOW AND OXYGEN DISTRIBUTIONIN HOLLOW FIBER AND FLAT CELL BIOREACTORS BY NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE (NMR) IMAGING TECHNIQUES. ANALYSIS OF BIOREACTOR INTERNAL STRUCTURE AND FLOW WILL BE MEASURED BY H-1 IMAGING AND FLOW IMAGING TECHNIQUES. SPATIAL MAPS OF OXYGEN CONCENTRATION WITHIN THE BIOREACTOR WILL BE DETERMINED BY F-19 T1 IMAGES. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS DEMONSTRATION OF PRINCIPLE WILL PROVIDE DETAILED KNOWLEDGE OF THE ULTIMATE USEFULNESS OF THE DEVICE AND TOGETHER WITH DESIGN DATA, IT WILL PROVIDENEEDED INFORMATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE NMR IMAGING/SPECTROSCOPY SYSTEM DURING PHASE II, IN ADVANCE OF COMMERCIALIZATION.