Examinations

Practical Report

Lecture Topics

Practical Classes

Glossary

References

Electronic Reserve Book Room

The operation of bioreactors for production by large scale cell culture is the central technology of the modern biotechnology industry. The potential to take advantage of the desirable properties of natural or genetically modified organisms depends upon our ability to grow them in a controlled fashion. In this course you will learn about the theory of bioreactor operation with relation to plant cell and tissue culture. Plant cultures represent the most complex culture system to be tackled by modern technology and afford access to the enormous variety of plant secondary metabolites which are the foundation of much of the pharmaceutical industry.

Lecture 1. Culturing plant tissues & cells

Lecture 2. Plant propagation and breeding

Lecture 3. Primary and secondary metabolism in plant cultures

Lecture 4. Kinetics of growth in cultures, energy and yield, continuous & batch culture

Lecture 5. Flow in the reactor, agitation, rheology, dimensionless numbers.

Lecture 6. External Mass Transfer, Sherwood numbers

Lecture 7.Internal Mass Transfer, Weisz' analysis

Lecture 8. Plant bioreactors, cells in suspension

Lecture 9. Immobilised cultures

Lecture 10. Shoot cultures

Lecture 11. Root cultures

Lecture 12. Biotransformation, new secondary metabolites

A copy of the lecture notes is available from the Reserve Book Room on 2 hour loan or may viewed on-line at the ERBR following the link above.

For the first two practicals the class will be divided into 8 groups of 3-4 students. There are two experiments which must be performed. One half of the class will do one experiment each week and then change to the other experiment for the succeeding session.

Practical 1  Monday 30th October 2000,

Practical 2 Monday 6th November 2000,

Practical 3  Monday 13th November 2000,
    This practical will involve a computer simulation of reactor operation. You will be working individually and every student MUST bring their laptop computers to the class. If for any reason you do not have a laptop available, eg lost or broken, you must make arrangements to borrow one for use in this class.
 

All practical reports to be submitted by DECEMBER 2nd 2000

Plant Tissue & Cell Culture, Stafford & Warren 1991 This is the recommended text for this course which contains a good general background of plant tissue culture. It is particularly valuable for a more detailed treatment of plant secondary metabolism with many more examples than can be covered in the lectures. Available in the University Bookshop and Main Library

Plant Cell & Tissue Culture in Liquid Systems, Payne, G, 1992 This is a multi-authored book which has some excellent chapters and some which are poor and duplicate others. Chapters 1,2 3,4 should be studied. The chapter 4 is a particularly good treatment of mass transfer. Chapters 6,7,8,9 have useful descriptions of different culture systems. 2 copies available in the reserve book room on 2 day loan, Call number 660.6 P71

Bioreactors in Biotechnology, Scragg, A.H. 1991 An example of poor editing with several errors present in the text. Despite this contains some clear examples of bioreactors and how they work.. Do not quote it as the ultimate authority however!. Available in the reserve book room on 2 day loan, Call No.660.6 S43

Integrated Design of a Fermentation Plant, Kristiansen, B. 1994 This is the full text for the 2nd practical class. It gives complete details about one program and the models used. Not necessary to read this unless you are interested in the program. Available in the reserve book room on 2 day loan, Call Number, 660.28449.16K

BIOTOL Books 1992 Operational Modes of Bioreactors, covers the different types of reactor designs and their theory, quite useful. This book is produced by the same team that made the Biocalm software available on the network.. Available in the reserve book room on 2 day loan, Call number; 660.63 061

Plant Cell Biotechnology, Endress, R. 1994. More about the plant cells than the biotechnology with some interesting reading on the secondary metabolism and differentiation of plants. Call number 660.6 E56