A model for cellulase production from Trichoderma reesei in an airlift reactor.

A mathematical model for cellulase production by Trichoderma reesei RUT-C30 grown in a cellulose medium with lactose as fed batch in an airlift reactor is proposed. To describe adequately the mass transfer between the air bubbles and the broth, it uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) including multiphase Eulerian-Eulerian formulation, with a detailed description of the bubble size distribution through the use of the population balance model (PBM) and the class method (CM). The kinetics of the biomass growth is further coupled to the fluid flow conditions using partial differential equations for all the species involved, providing detailed information of important reactor conditions such as the distribution of oxygen, cellulose, and the shear stress within the reactor over the entire period of fermentation.

Instrument and technique for the in vitro screening of platelet activation from whole blood samples.

The measurement of platelet activation is very difficult to accomplish clinically as platelets are readily activated by in vitro manipulations. Although techniques such as platelet aggregation and flow cytometry exist to estimate platelet function, important limitations prevent these techniques to be widely accepted. In this study, low-fouling surfaces used to limit ex vivo platelet activation were locally bioactivated to rapidly detect platelet activation from whole blood through the selective local adhesion and aggregation of artificially activated platelets.