Company Development and Organization
Wrote 20+ page industry analysis and literature review
Secured lab space and rental agreement
Identified additional PhD-level scientist and assisted with hiring and on-boarding
Attracted 2 world-renowned single cell protein subject matter experts to advisory team
Streamlined, re-organized and re-defined experimental plan outlined in NRC-Industrial Research Assistance Program grant
Procurement
Established accounts with key scientific suppliers (Fisher, Sigma, VWR, ATCC etc)
Performed bioreactor market analysis leading to purchase of $90K+ Sartorius BioStat B unit with chemostat analytical balance, BioPat®Xgas online offgas analyzer and inline OD probe
Purchased additional parts/components for the bioreactor: O2 cylinder and regulator, Coalescing filter, Quick connects, reducing connectors, carboys, high-throughput media filtration equipment and tubing
Researched, purchased and arranged shipment of benchtop incubator with orbital shaking platform, benchtop centrifuge and microcentrifuge
Lab Maintenance
Managed re-wiring of lab bench electrical and redistribution of lab-grade air
Managed re-certification of laminar flow hood
Organized contract for large-scale biohazardous waste removal
Experimental Work
Assessed candidate strains in flask-based trials
Examined for industrially relevant parameters of growth rate, biomass, protein content, nucleic acid content and media costing
Media optimization studies using a Plackett-Burman approach
Characterized the candidate strains in a bioreactor
Batch, fed-batch and continuous operation were studied
Batch, fed-batch and continuous operation were studied and substrate utilization, oxygen consumption, CO2 generation, biomass and protein content were examined
Physiochemical conditions of stir-speed, aeration, pH control and foam control
Generated biomass for compositional analysis
Strains grown in a repeated-batch set up with a 50 % harvest rate, and subsequent centrifugation and lyophilization
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