Membrane Based Bioreactor for Non-Contact Co-Culture

A novel bioreactor system that uses membranes to create a compartmentalised system whereby two or more species can be co-cultured without mixing of species, while ensuring rapid exchange of metabolites and proteins between compartments and shared medium composition. The system operates continuously, thereby avoiding the discontinuities that characterise other systems, which either use hourly backwashes to clean the membranes or require a change in the direction of the flow between compartments. The compartmentalised system design also allows for individualised control of co-cultured microorganisms with different physiologies, resulting in co-processes with improved productivity.

A key feature of the system is the ability to study microbial interactions in real‑time, while monitoring the exchange of metabolites, other biochemical products or signalling molecules between microorganisms without cells being in direct physical contact. These contactless co-culturing processes help to alleviate some of the antagonistic interactions that are observed when cells are in physical contact, leading to more productive, more efficient processes with more diverse outputs.