Bottom-illuminated orbital shaker for microalgae cultivation

A bottom-illuminated orbital shaker designed for the cultivation of microalgae suspensions is described in this open-source hardware report. The instrument agitates and illuminates microalgae suspensions grown inside flasks. It was optimized for low production cost, simplicity, low power consumption...

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Main Authors: Jakub Nedbal, Lu Gao, Klaus Suhling
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020-10-01
Series:HardwareX
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067220300523
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author Jakub Nedbal
Lu Gao
Klaus Suhling
author_facet Jakub Nedbal
Lu Gao
Klaus Suhling
author_sort Jakub Nedbal
collection DOAJ
description A bottom-illuminated orbital shaker designed for the cultivation of microalgae suspensions is described in this open-source hardware report. The instrument agitates and illuminates microalgae suspensions grown inside flasks. It was optimized for low production cost, simplicity, low power consumption, design flexibility, consistent, and controllable growth light intensity.The illuminated orbital shaker is especially well suited for low-resource research laboratories and education. It is an alternative to commercial instruments for microalgae cultivation. It improves on typical do-it-yourself microalgae growth systems by offering consistent and well characterized illumination light intensity. The illuminated growth area is 20 cm × 15 cm, which is suitable for three T75 tissue culture flasks or six 100 ml Erlenmeyer flasks. The photosynthetic photon flux density, is variable in eight steps (26-800μmol·m-2·s-1) and programmable in a 24-h light/dark cycle. The agitation speed is variable (0-210RPM). The overall material cost is around £300, including an entry-level orbital shaker. The build takes two days, requiring electronics and mechanical assembly capabilities. The instrument build is documented in a set of open-source protocols, design files, and source code. The design can be readily modified, scaled, and adapted for other orbital shakers and specific experimental requirements.The instrument function was validated by growing fresh-water microalgae Desmodesmus quadricauda and Chlorella vulgaris. The cultivation protocols, microalgae growth curves, and doubling times are included in this report.
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spelling doaj.art-930f6a07d7494691a89047420aac874f2022-12-21T22:36:09ZengElsevierHardwareX2468-06722020-10-018e00143Bottom-illuminated orbital shaker for microalgae cultivationJakub Nedbal0Lu Gao1Klaus Suhling2Department of Physics, King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK; Corresponding author.Institute of Bio- and Geosciences/Plant Sciences (IBG-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, D-52428 Jülich, Germany; Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Heinrich Heine University, Universität Straße 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf, GermanyDepartment of Physics, King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UKA bottom-illuminated orbital shaker designed for the cultivation of microalgae suspensions is described in this open-source hardware report. The instrument agitates and illuminates microalgae suspensions grown inside flasks. It was optimized for low production cost, simplicity, low power consumption, design flexibility, consistent, and controllable growth light intensity.The illuminated orbital shaker is especially well suited for low-resource research laboratories and education. It is an alternative to commercial instruments for microalgae cultivation. It improves on typical do-it-yourself microalgae growth systems by offering consistent and well characterized illumination light intensity. The illuminated growth area is 20 cm × 15 cm, which is suitable for three T75 tissue culture flasks or six 100 ml Erlenmeyer flasks. The photosynthetic photon flux density, is variable in eight steps (26-800μmol·m-2·s-1) and programmable in a 24-h light/dark cycle. The agitation speed is variable (0-210RPM). The overall material cost is around £300, including an entry-level orbital shaker. The build takes two days, requiring electronics and mechanical assembly capabilities. The instrument build is documented in a set of open-source protocols, design files, and source code. The design can be readily modified, scaled, and adapted for other orbital shakers and specific experimental requirements.The instrument function was validated by growing fresh-water microalgae Desmodesmus quadricauda and Chlorella vulgaris. The cultivation protocols, microalgae growth curves, and doubling times are included in this report.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067220300523Orbital shakerShaking incubatorGrowth chamberCultivationMicroalgaeAlgae
spellingShingle Jakub Nedbal
Lu Gao
Klaus Suhling
Bottom-illuminated orbital shaker for microalgae cultivation
HardwareX
Orbital shaker
Shaking incubator
Growth chamber
Cultivation
Microalgae
Algae
title Bottom-illuminated orbital shaker for microalgae cultivation
title_full Bottom-illuminated orbital shaker for microalgae cultivation
title_fullStr Bottom-illuminated orbital shaker for microalgae cultivation
title_full_unstemmed Bottom-illuminated orbital shaker for microalgae cultivation
title_short Bottom-illuminated orbital shaker for microalgae cultivation
title_sort bottom illuminated orbital shaker for microalgae cultivation
topic Orbital shaker
Shaking incubator
Growth chamber
Cultivation
Microalgae
Algae
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067220300523
work_keys_str_mv AT jakubnedbal bottomilluminatedorbitalshakerformicroalgaecultivation
AT lugao bottomilluminatedorbitalshakerformicroalgaecultivation
AT klaussuhling bottomilluminatedorbitalshakerformicroalgaecultivation